He has also organized a loose federation of like-minded independent candidates running for state, municipal and county offices in the district.

Proponents argue that STV can lower campaign costs because like-minded candidates can share some expenses.

"That allows them to recruit and endorse like-minded candidates."

It was also the county that made Ronald Reagan's career possible, giving him and other like-minded candidates a huge base they could count on in state elections.

Its goal is to help like-minded candidates get elected to local, state, and federal offices.

Miller and a slate of like-minded candidates for council ran on a common platform, the centrepiece of which was to stop the bridge.

Conversely, spreading out votes can increase the number of like-minded candidates who eventually take office.

This is one reason judicial confirmation hearings are so rancorous, and perhaps why the most extreme ideologues fight so hard to place a like-minded candidate on the bench.

"We are in it to win elections with like-minded conservative candidates."

Supporters called the outcome an anomaly in a year when like-minded candidates swept into office in record numbers throughout the country.