City's Voters May Alter Election Plan

Cambridge voters next November will be asked to decide the fate of Proportional Representation in municipal elections if a bill passed yesterday by the State House of Representatives is approved by the Senate and the Governor. Under the current system, councilors are elected on a city-wide, first-choice basis instead of by wards.

If Cambridge decides against PR in the referendum asked for in the bill, voters will cast nine votes of equal value for the nine positions on the Council. In the PR system, used only by one other town in the state, Worcester, the votes vary in value acorcding to the order in which they are cast.

The Republican majority in the legislature will probably pass the referendum, since the Republicans "can only gain" from a change, according to Edward Martin, Cambridge reporter of the Boston Record and an unsuccessful Council candidate last fall. The last Republican Councilor, Marcus Morton was defeated in the November elections.