https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/1999-06-25/522265/
How America's 40 Largest Cities Elect Their Council Members
June 25, 1999, News
Government System
M: Under the Strong Mayor system in place in 26 of the cities, the mayor and council are separate, equal, and often combative branches of government (à la the President and Congress).
C: Council-manager systems (what Austin has) feature a council that includes the mayor and a hired-gun chief executive.
P: Under a commission system (found only in Portland), each council member actually runs city departments.
Election System
SM: Single-member districts should be self-explanatory; all but five of the cities elect all or most of their council members in this way. There are two flavors of at-large elections:
Place: In Place systems, like we have, candidates run for specific seats.
Prop.: In Proportional Representation ("prop-rep") systems, all the candidates run as a herd and citizens get to vote for more than one.
MM: The two cities with multi-member districts elect the reps from them via prop-rep. Many cities, as you can see, have systems that mix single-member and at-large.
# of Seats
This includes the mayors of council-manager cities. Most strong-mayor cities have a council president (or speaker), who is sometimes elected directly (indicated on the chart as "+1") and otherwise chosen by the council.
D, AL: In mixed systems, some members are elected from districts, some at large.
Terms
Note that Austin is the only city with 3-year terms.
Ü: In a staggered system, for instance, here in Austin, the city doesn't elect all the council members in the same year.
Term Limits
About half the cities have term limits.
* In four of them, limits apply to the mayor only.
Election Dates
Most every city has two election dates ñ either a primary and general election, in cities with partisan races, or a general and runoff election, as we do. Sometimes, both are in the same month, which is why some cities only have one month listed. -- M.C.M.
| Rank | City | Pop. (1996) | Gov. | Elections | # seats | Term | limit | Elect. cycle | Elect. dates | Notes |
| 1 | New York, NY | 7,380,906 | M | SM | 51 | 4 yrs | 2* | Next 2001 | Sep/Nov | Partisan; also 5 elected borough presidents |
| 2 | Los Angeles, CA | 3,553,638 | M | SM | 15 | 4 yrs† | 2 | Odd years | Apr/Jun | Attempt to expand council defeated in June; unified local elections |
| 3 | Chicago, IL | 2,721,547 | M | SM | 50 | 4 yrs | - | Next 2003 | Feb/Apr | |
| 4 | Houston, TX | 1,744,058 | M | SM+Place | 14 (9 D, 5 AL) | 2 yrs | 2 | Odd years | Nov/Dec | Will add 2 districts when population goes above 2.1 million |
| 5 | Philadelphia, PA | 1,478,002 | M | SM+Prop. | 17 (10 D, 7 AL) | 4 yrs | 2* | Next 1999 | May/Nov | Partisan; voters get 5 at-large votes, top 7 vote-getters are elected |
| 6 | San Diego, CA | 1,171,121 | C | SM | 9 | 4 yrs† | 2 | Even years | Mar/Nov | Unified with state/ federal elections |
| 7 | Phoenix, AZ | 1,159,014 | C | SM | 9 | 4 yrs† | - | Odd years | Sep | |
| 8 | San Antonio, TX | 1,067,816 | C | SM | 11 | 2 yrs | 2 | Odd years | May | |
| 9 | Dallas, TX | 1,053,292 | C | SM | 15 | 2 yrs | 8 yrs | Odd years | May | Mayor serves 4-year term |
| 10 | Detroit, MI | 1,000,272 | M | Prop. | 9 | 4 yrs | - | Next 2001 | Sep/Nov | Top vote-getter becomes City Council president |
| 11 | San Jose, CA | 838,744 | C | SM | 11 | 4 yrs† | 2 | Even years | Mar/Nov | Unified with state/ federal elections |
| 12 | Indianapolis, IN | 746,737 | M | SM+Prop. | 29 (25 D, 4 AL) | 4 yrs | - | Next 1999 | May/Nov | Partisan |
| 13 | San Francisco, CA | 735,315 | M | SM * | 11 | 4 yrs† | 2 | Next 2000 | Nov/Dec | System effective 2000; unified with state/ federal elections |
| 14 | Jacksonville, FL | 679,792 | M | SM+Place | 19 (14 D, 5 AL) | 4 yrs | 2 | Next 2003 | Apr/May | Partisan; term limits effective 1999 |
| 15 | Baltimore, MD | 675,401 | M | MM | 19 (6 D x 3+1) | 4 yrs | - | Next 1999 | Sep/Nov | Partisan; 3 members elected (prop.) from each of 6 districts; Council president elected at large |
| 16 | Columbus, OH | 657,053 | M | Prop. | 7 | 4 yrs† | - | Odd years | May/Nov | |
| 17 | El Paso, TX | 599,865 | C | SM | 9 | 2 yrs | 4 | Odd years | May | Went from 6 to 8 districts (+ mayor) in 1993 |
| 18 | Memphis, TN | 596,725 | M | SM+MM | 13 (7 D+2x3) | 4 yrs | - | Next 1999 | Oct/Nov | Two superdistricts (each covering half the city) elect (prop.) 3 members each |
| 19 | Milwaukee, WI | 590,503 | M | SM | 17 | 4 yrs | - | Next 2000 | April | |
| 20 | Boston, MA | 558,394 | M | SM+Prop. | 13 (9 D, 4 AL) | 2 yrs | - | Odd years | Nov | Partisan; mayor serves 4-year term |
| 21 | Washington, DC | 543,213 | M | SM+Prop.* | 13 (8 D, 4 AL+1) | 4 yrs† | - | Even years | Sep/Nov | Partisan; at-large councilors must be from (at least two) different parties; Council president elected at large; unified w/federal elections |
| 22 | Austin, TX | 541,278 | C | Place | 7 | 3 yrs† | 2 | Next 2000 | May | |
| 23 | Seattle, WA | 524,704 | M | Prop. | 9 | 4 yrs† | - | Odd years | Mar | |
| 24 | Nashville, TN | 511,263 | M | SM+Prop. | 41 (35 D, 5 AL+1) | 4 yrs | 3* | Next 1999 | Aug/Sep | Vice-mayor (council president) elected at large |
| 25 | Cleveland, OH | 498,246 | M | SM | 21 | 4 yrs | - | Next 2001 | Sep/Nov | Partisan; downsized council from 35 members in 1982; unified local elections |
| 26 | Denver, CO | 497,840 | M | SM+Prop. | 13 (11 D, 2 AL) | 4 yrs | - | Next 2003 | May/Jun | |
| 27 | Portland, OR | 480,824 | P | Place | 5 | 4 yrs† | - | Even years | May/Nov | Term-limit initiative planned for 2000 ballot; unified with state/ federal elections |
| 28 | Fort Worth, TX | 479,716 | C | SM | 9 | 2 yrs | - | Odd years | May | Mayor is District 1 |
| 29 | New Orleans, LA | 476,625 | M | SM+Prop. | 7 (5 D, 2 AL) | 4 yrs | 2 | Next 2002 | Mar/Apr | Partisan; council president must be at-large member |
| 30 | Oklahoma City, OK | 469,852 | C | SM | 9 | 4 yrs | - | 2002 | Apr/May | |
| 31 | Tuscon, AZ | 449,002 | C | SM+Place | 7 (7D) | 4 yrs† | - | Odd years | Sep/Nov | Partisan; council members nominated by districts, elected at large |
| 32 | Charlotte, NC | 441,297 | C | SM+Prop. | 11 (7 D, 4 AL) | 2 yrs | - | Odd years | Sep/Nov | Partisan |
| 33 | Kansas City, MO | 441,259 | C | SM+Place | 12 (6 D, 6 AL) | 4 yrs | 2 | Next 2003 | Mar/Apr | Each district has one member elected by the district and one elected at-large |
| 34 | Virginia Beach, VA | 430,385 | C | SM+Place | 11 (7 D, 4 AL) | 4 yrs† | - | Even years | May | Current system effective 1998 |
| 35 | Honolulu, HI | 423,475 | M | SM | 9 | 4 yrs | 2 | Next 2002 | Sep/Nov | Unified with state/federal elections |
| 36 | Long Beach, CA | 421,904 | M | SM | 9 | 4 yrs† | 2 | Even years | Apr/Jun | |
| 37 | Albuquerque, NM | 419,681 | M | SM | 9 | 4 yrs† | 2* | Odd years | Oct | Runoff only required if no candidate gets 40 percent of vote |
| 38 | Atlanta, GA | 401,907 | M | SM+Place | 16 (12 D, 3 AL+1) | 4 yrs | - | Next 2001 | Nov | At-large members represent posts (groups of 4 districts); Council president elected at large; current system effective 1996 |
| 39 | Fresno, CA | 396,011 | M | SM | 7 | 4 yrs† | 2 | Even years | Mar/Nov | Unified with state/federal elections; current system effective 1996 |
| 40 | Tulsa, OK | 378,491 | M | SM | 9 | 2 yrs | - | Even years | Feb/Mar | Partisan; mayor serves 4-year term |
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