election_title: "Bloc STAR — Harborview city council: a 52% slate takes all five seats"

scenario_description: |-
  One hundred and eight voters fill FIVE at-large council seats from TWELVE
  candidates. The Harbor slate (Ana, Beto, Cora, Dmitri, Elena) is backed by 56
  of the 108 voters — 52%. It wins every seat.

  This is the majority sweep at a realistic municipal scale, and it is the single
  most important thing to understand about at-large bloc elections.

    - Round 1: Ana 316 v Beto 304 — Ana wins.
    - Round 2: Beto 304 v Cora 260 — Beto wins.
    - Round 3: Cora 260 v Dmitri 248 — Cora wins.
    - Round 4: Dmitri 248 v Elena 236 — Dmitri wins.
    - Round 5: Elena 236 v Farid 230 — Elena wins 56-38 (60% of the 94 voters
      with a preference; the 14 independents rate them equally).

  Council: Ana, Beto, Cora, Dmitri, Elena. The Ridge slate, backed by 38 of 108
  voters (35%), elects nobody. No rung of the tie-break ladder is consulted.

  Look at where the contests actually happen. Only ROUND 5 is a fight between the
  two slates. Rounds 1-4 are Harbor-versus-Harbor, because Harbor's five
  candidates occupy the top five score positions from the start — and in those
  rounds 96 of the 108 voters score both finalists identically and express no
  preference, so the seat is settled by the 12 Harbor-leaning voters who
  differentiate. A 52% majority does not merely win the council; it also decides
  the internal order, with everyone else sitting the runoffs out.

  Nothing has gone wrong. This is what a majoritarian method is FOR — it produces
  a body that speaks with one voice. It is also precisely the mechanism at issue
  in Voting Rights Act litigation over at-large seats, where a cohesive majority
  can shut a large minority out of a legislature entirely.

  All three proportional STAR methods elect Ana, Beto, Cora, Farid and Gina on
  these SAME ballots — Harbor 3, Ridge 2, which is close to the 52/35 split of
  the electorate. That contrast is the lesson; see the folder README.

  Reproduced on BetterVoting (election 2cdvm6), which counts the SAME 108
  ballots twice. Both races match the LH count exactly: Bloc STAR elects Ana,
  Beto, Cora, Dmitri and Elena with tieBreakType 'none'; STAR-PR elects Ana,
  Beto, Cora, Farid and Gina. Frozen export:
  bloc_harborview_council_bv_export.json.
  Live results: https://bettervoting.com/2cdvm6/results

num_winners: 5
voting_method: Bloc STAR
ballots: |-
  Count:Ana,Beto,Cora,Dmitri,Elena,Farid,Gina,Hugo,Iris,Jonas,Kira,Luis
  44:5,5,4,4,4,0,0,0,0,1,1,1   # Harbor loyalists
  12:5,4,4,3,2,1,1,1,1,2,2,2   # Harbor leaners
  30:0,0,0,0,0,5,5,4,4,1,1,1   # Ridge loyalists
  8:1,1,1,1,1,5,4,4,3,2,2,2    # Ridge leaners
  14:2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,5,5,4   # independents

bv_test_id: BV2290
bv_election_id: 2cdvm6
bv_results_url: https://bettervoting.com/2cdvm6/results

expected_winners:
  - Ana
  - Beto
  - Cora
  - Dmitri
  - Elena

# file: bloc_harborview_council.yaml