Single Member Districts: Does Size Matter?

One of the arguments against Single Member Districts has been, "Apopka is not big enough."

To evaluate the argument The Apopka Voice compiled a list of 33 Florida cities ranked by population with Apopka being in the middle of the list. Thus we evaluated 16 cities that are just above Apopka in population and 16 cities that are just below Apopka in population. These 32 cities comprise what we are calling Apopka's Peer Group.

We then used information on each city's website to determine the methods used to elect City Council members.

The results were as follows:

For the peer cities with slightly more population than Apopka:

• 9 used Single Member Districts
• 6 used At-Large Voting
• 1 used a hybrid method

For the peer cities with slightly less population than Apopka:

• 7 used Single Member Districts
• 8 used At-Large Voting
• 1 used a hybrid method

For the total Peer Group:

• 16 used Single Member Districts
• 14 used At-Large Voting
• 2 used hybrid methods

The average population of the cities:

• Single Member Districts: 44,732
• At-Large Voting: 42,423

Here is a link to an interactive map showing the location of the Peer Group cities: Peer Group City Map

Here is the list of the Peer Group cities: