August electoral reform news

August news on electoral reform in the Midwest
Compiled by Dan Johnson-Weinberger, Director of Midwest Democracy 
Center.

The Midwest Democracy Center is a non-profit, membership advocacy 
group that works to make our governments more democratic and 
representative. Our main goal is to revive cumulative voting for the 
Illinois House of Representatives (used from 1870 ? 1980) so that 
political minorities will have some representation. Other goals 
include using instant runoff voting for single-winner elections (like 
governor) to end spoiler candidacies and ensure the majority gets to 
pick the winner as well as same-day voter registration. Our website 
is www.midwestdemocracy.org and our telephone number is 312.587.7060. 
We encourage your participation!

AUGUST 2001

The consensus for bringing back cumulative voting and representing 
everyone in the Illinois House of Representatives is growing.

After the release of the Jim Edgar ? Abner Mikva report 
(www.igpa.uiuc.edu to download a copy) calling for a return to 
cumulative voting, more and more political players are joining the 
call ? recognizing that 20 years of not allowing the political 
minority any voice in Springfield has been a mistake. (If you would 
like a copy and can't download it, email Dan Johnson-Weinberger at 
djw@fairvote.org with your postal address).

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin wore his support for cumulative voting on 
his chest (literally), as he wore one of our Cumulative Voting ? Make 
Your Vote Count buttons all day during Democrat Day at the Illinois 
State Fair! Durbin wore the button during this very high-profile 
event in Springfield, as did many other Democrats who could get their 
hands on one of our buttons during Democrat Day. The Republican Day 
at the state fair was also a big success, and our brochures were 
distributed to lots of Republicans, including several County Chairs 
of Republican organizations that pledged their support for a petition 
drive.

Judy Baar Topinka, Illinois State Treasurer, came out for cumulative 
voting in the Chicago Sun-Times in this fantastic column:

Monday July 30, 2001
By Illinois State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka (Republican)

Old System better for minorities

Cumulative voting should be brought back.  It provided better 
representation and was a fairer way to serve the people of  Illinois, 
writes Judy Baar Topinka.

How do I know that cumulative voting works and ought to be brought 
back?  Because I have lived the system, was in the last group of 
representatives elected through this system and saw the benefits that 
a system like cumulative voting could provide to an independent-
thinking person like myself to be able to run and win against long 
odds and well-oiled machines.

Twenty years ago the public voted to end Illinois' unique system of 
cumulative voting, the only such system in the United States to 
provide representation to both majority and minority candidates from 
each party.  The public was upset that representatives had voted 
themselves a chunky pay raise, and now it was payback time.  
Furthermore, it is always fun to eradicate politicians.

Yes, the legislature is probably more efficient now, but at what cost?

The only savings incurred was that of the salaries of one-third of 
the House of Representatives.  From that point on, there was more 
expensive hired staff, more introduction of bills and more 
concentration of power in the hands of the legislative leaders.

The governor and the Four Tops are not a rock band but five 
individuals in whom the power of the legislature rests while 
individual representatives have watched their influences lessen to an 
echo.

While visiting with a legislator attending a seminar I was 
conducting, I asked him, generically, how he was doing. 

"What difference does it make?" he snapped.  "It doesn't make any 
difference what I say or do or want or need for my district.  The 
leadership controls everything.  We get stuff to vote on when they 
decide on what they want.  We don't even know what we are voting on."

I was rather taken aback at his remarks.  But then, legislators for 
many years now have been calling themselves "the Mushrooms" because 
mushrooms are kept in the dark and fed?well, you know what mushrooms 
get for fertilizer.

Under the cumulative voting system, people could pick three 
representatives per district--two from the majority party, one from 
the minority.

Now, there is only the majority party representative, who has become 
more and more partisan as elections have grown more costly and 
special interests have become stronger.  Special interests no longer 
have to dissipate energy over three representatives per district; 
they can concentrate on one with far better aim and results.

Elections have gotten more cutthroat and nastier, too. Independent 
Republicans and independent Democrats could no longer use the "bullet 
ballot" of casting three votes for one candidate to fight the various 
political machines that exist around the state.  And independents of 
either party did not fit the cookie-cutter shapes that polling and 
prescribed legislative districts now demanded.  Debate, issues, 
committees and all other aspects of the House could now be controlled.

The cumulative voting system, although unique, was not broken and 
needed no fixing.  Although we have many fine people serving in the 
Illinois House and attempting to move their issues, nothing gave them 
as much latitude and ability to change the course of history as 
cumulative voting.

Cumulative voting provided proportional representation, a fairer way 
for the public to participate.  It could accommodate more women, 
ethnic and minority legislators, independents and yes, 
even "characters" who march to different drummers and dare to push 
the envelope with new ideas and visions for Illinois.

A resolution in the Illinois House would allow voters to decide 
whether Illinois should return to cumulative voting. It is time to go 
back so as to go forward.

-------------

HJRCA 4, the state legislation that would put cumulative voting on 
the November 2002 ballot, has been automatically reassigned to the 
House Rules Committee. We also expect bipartisan companion 
legislation to be introduced in the state Senate in November during 
veto session. If this legislation passes the General Assembly, 
Illinois voters will have the chance to approve a constitutional 
amendment to change the Illinois House from 118 districts that each 
elect one person (and leave the political minority with no voice) to 
39 bigger districts electing three people each by cumulative voting, 
so that everyone will have a voice and so that elections are far more 
competitive than they are now.

There is growing talk of a petition drive if the legislation does not 
pass the General Assembly ? if you are interested in helping out with 
a petition drive, or if you would like a speaker for your party 
organization, good-government group, high school or college class on 
cumulative voting, please email Dan Johnson-Weinberger at 
djw@fairvote.org with your name and phone number or call him at 
312.933.4890.

There are upcoming meetings at the Midwest Democracy Center that are 
open to all. The next meeting is Wednesday, September 5th at 6:30 pm. 
The Midwest Democracy Center is 325 West Huron #304 (just south of 
Chicago Avenue and just east of Orleans) in the River North 
neighborhood. We're also looking at Saturday October 20th as a big 
event in Chicago for cumulative voting, so please keep that date open.

If you live in the western suburbs, we'll have a table at the 
Suburban Civic Fair in Palatine at Harper Community College October 
13th and we need volunteers to help staff the table and spread the 
word about two-party representation in DuPage County by electing more 
than one person from a district. Come on by.

To get more than a monthly update on the drive to revive cumulative 
voting, join our moderated listserv with about four messages a week. 
That's at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/drive2revive and you can 
subscribe by emailing drive2revive-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Finally, to hear a radio debate between Dan Johnson-Weinberger and 
Pat Quinn on Chicago's NPR station WBEZ, visit 
http://www.wbez.org/services/ram/848/848_010713b.ram

Ann Arbor event September 19th on electoral reform

A town hall meeting on electoral reform will be held in Ann Arbor, 
Wednesday, Sept 19, at 7:00pm in the Koessler Room at the Michigan 
League. The Michigan League is just south of the Alumni Center on 
campus, facing the mall. Ann Arbor is the last Midwest city to use 
instant runoff voting in a municipal election. Their 1974 mayoral 
race used instant runoff voting, and there is a growing effort to 
bring it back. If you know anyone in Michigan, tell them to come to 
this event.

Discussion listservs

There are plenty of ways to get more information about cumulative 
voting and instant runoff voting in your state. Here are some 
relevant listservs to join. You can subscribe by either visiting the 
website or emailing the address listed below the website. 

Cumulative voting in Illinios (moderated to five messages per week)
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/drive2revive   
drive2revive-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

National cumulative voting list 
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/Voice4All
Voice4All-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

National instant runoff voting list (moderated to one message per day)
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/instantrunoff
instantrunoff-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Instant runoff voting in Illinois
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/instantrunoffIL
instantrunoffIL-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Instant runoff voting in Michigan
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/instantrunoffMI
instantrunoffMI-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Instant runoff voting in Wisconsin
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/instantrunoffWI
instantrunoffWI-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Instant runoff voting in Minnesota
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/instantrunoffMN
instantrunoffMN-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Instant runoff voting in Ohio
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/instantrunoffOH
instantrunoffOH-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Interns

Our successful summer interns have left us to go back to school. We 
tried to tell them to get their priorities straight, but they all 
refused to drop out of college in order to volunteer full time for 
the Midwest Democracy Center. 

If you or someone you know is looking for a fall or spring 
internship, the Midwest Democracy Center is a good place! Email Dan 
Johnson-Weinberger at djw@fairvote.org or call him at 312.587.7060. 
We are also looking to work with students doing Independent Studies 
in political research or history ? there are a lot of very 
interesting topics to write about that we'd like to share. 

Board members wanted 

We are electing a seven-person Board of Directors for the Midwest 
Democracy Center. Nominations are open. The board will meet at least 
quarterly. All members of the Midwest Democracy Center are eligible 
to run and to vote (if you are not a member, you can become one by 
mailing $20 to the Midwest Democracy Center, or donating online at 
www.midwestdemocracy.org). If you would like to nominate yourself, 
please send a 100-word statement to Nate Krause at 
nate@instantrunoff.com . Ballots are scheduled to go out in mid-
September.

Please forward this newsletter to lists and people you know that are 
interested in politics (and if you'd like to subscribe to this 
monthly update, please send an email to MDCmonthly-
subscribe@yahoogroups.com ) and thank you for reading.

Midwest Democracy Center
325 West Huron #304
Chicago, IL 60610
312.587.7060
www.midwestdemocracy.org