Read Lee Mortimer's article in the May 30, 2001  Raleigh News & Observer that outlined this proposal.

View maps of North Carolina House and Senate multimember districts, proposed by Lee Mortimer. Under this proposal, North Carolina would be divided into mostly 3- and 5-member districts with some larger districts to cover the state's most populous counties.  Under a "Finnish-style" limited voting system, voters in 3-member districts would choose one candidate, the party whose candidates receive the most votes would get two seats; the runner-up party would get one seat.  The highest polling candidates get their party's seats.  

In 5- and 7-member districts, voters could choose two candidates and the seat split would be three or four seats for the majority party and two or three seats for the minority party, and in 9- and 11-member districts, voters could choose three candidates and the majority party would win either 5 or 6 seats in those districts.

Though the plan includes some large multimember districts, limited voting means voters would have the same number of votes as now--one or two votes in Senate elections and one, two or three votes in House elections.  If an unaffiliated candidate received more votes than a party winner, then that candidate would win over the lowest polling party candidate.  This method would make elections more competitive, unlike many of the races in the current system.

You can download Excel spreadsheets containing demographic profiles of the proposed North Carolina House and Senate multi-member districts.  They also include political analyses for these proposed districts. The 16 Senate and 27 House districts are listed by their component counties with total population, white and non-white voting-age populations, and the percentage of non-white VAP in each county and district. 

Based on the demographic composition of the districts and by using an alternative voting method, more racial minorities could be elected to the state legislature. Currently, people of color represent 26 percent of North Carolina�s VAP but hold only 15 percent of legislative seats.

Returns from three statewide elections in 2000 provide a profile of the partisan leanings of each of the districts. By averaging the labor commissioner and two court of appeals races across each county and district, the analysis shows Democrats and Republicans would win an equal number of seats in the state House and Senate.  Forty percent of all legislative seats are in districts that are competitive between Democrats and Republicans.

One of the concerns expressed about multimembers districts is the potential costs of campaigning in larger districts.  It turns out that costs don't necessarily rise.  You can read an important study about campaign costs.

More on voting rights and alternative voting systems.