noun: municipality; plural noun: municipalities
a city or town that has corporate status and local government
A municipality is a city administrative division, which has powers of self-government. The term is also used to refer to the governing body of a city.
A municipality can be any political jurisdiction from a sovereign state to a small village. In the United States, “municipality” is usually understood as a city, town, village formed by municipal charter from the state as a municipal corporation.
Each November, elections are held in the United States. In some years, citizens vote in federal elections where members of Congress are elected. In some years, there is a Presidential election and in some years, municipal elections are held. 2015 is a year when municipal elections are conducted. Municipal elections are held to elect the people who will lead cities, which are often referred to as municipalities.
Municipal elections vary from city to city, but there are three common types: local representative at-large, district or a mixed-system, which combines at-large and district representation.
At-Large
At-large members are elected to serve the same constituency, which is the population of the city as a whole. At-large election proponents favor having council members elected by the entire city because:
• Council members in an at-large system can be more impartial, rise above the limited perspective of a single district and concern themselves with the problems of the whole community.
• Better-qualified individuals are elected to the council because the candidate pool is larger.
However, at-large elections can weaken the representation of particular groups, especially if the group does not have a citywide base of operations or is an ethnic or racial group concentrated in a specific ward. At-large elections tend to be popular in small cities and more affluent areas.
District
District elections select a single council member from a corresponding geographical section of the city, called a district or ward. District election proponents favor having council members elected to represent individual wards because:
• District elections give all legitimate groups, especially those with a geographic base, a better chance of being represented on the city council, especially minority groups.
• District council members are more sensitive to the small but important problems of their constituents, like waste disposal.
• District elections may improve citizen participation because councilmen who represent a specific district may be more responsive to their constituency.
