October electoral reform news

October news on electoral reform in the Midwest
Compiled by Dan Johnson-Weinberger, djw@fairvote.org

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. Our other main 
goals is to use instant runoff voting for single-winner elections 
(like governor) in primaries and general elections to end spoiler 
candidacies and ensure the majority gets to pick the winner. Our 
website is www.midwestdemocracy.org and our telephone number is 
312.587.7060. We encourage your participation and membership (join 
online)!

The next meeting of the newly-elected Board of the Midwest Democracy 
Center is this Friday, November 2nd at Leona's restaurant, 646 N. 
Franklin, at 6:00 pm. All are welcome!

SENATE LEGISLATION FILED FOR CUMULATIVE VOTING

Illinois state senators Barack Obama (D-Chicago) and Tom Walsh (R-
LaGrange Park) filed legislation in the senate that would put 
cumulative voting in three-member districts for the Illinois House of 
Representatives on the November 2002 ballot. This is the first time 
in the history of the state senate that an amendment has been 
introduced calling for cumulative voting.

Identical legislation to the Obama-Walsh amendment has been 
introduced in the state House. That legislation is HJRCA 4. Co-
sponsors include Democrats Sara Feigenholtz, Judy Erwin, House 
Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie and Art Turner and Republicans 
Terry Parke, Michael McAullife and Rick Winkel.

This is a great opportunity to call your state senator and ask 
him/her to support the cumulative voting amendment. We'll get a bill 
number when veto session begins next week. 

We'll also be lobbying in Springfield November 13th and 14th ? join 
us if you can! (If you'd like to get more involved in lobbying for 
cumulative voting, reply to this email or join the cumulative voting 
listserv at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/drive2revive )

U. OF ILLINOIS, URBANA-CHAMPAIGN STUDENT GOVERNMENT TO VOTE ON 
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION AND INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING 

The Illinois Student Government at the University of Illinois, Urbana-
Champaign has put a referendum on the November 12-13 ballot seeking 
to change its bylaws to proportional representation for the Assembly 
and instant runoff voting for all single-winner offices.

Thanks to Bob Morgan, student body president, for initiative this 
bylaws change. Please see www.isg.uiuc.edu for more details.

If you know any students at the Urbana campus (undergraduate or 
graduate), please tell them to vote for the bylaws change. If you are 
a student on campus, please vote yes and tell all your friends to do 
so!

We plan to visit the campus the weekend preceding the vote (the 10th 
and 11th of November) to drum up support for the referendum and meet 
with East Central Illinois supporters. We'll meet for dinner with 
East Central Illinois folks on Saturday, November 10th at 6:00 pm in 
downtown Urbana at the Cinema Café, 120 West Main Street. Come on by!

NOVEMBER 19th CHICAGO EVENT ON DRIVE TO REVIVE

Join State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka and former Congressman Abner 
Mikva for an afternoon panel on cumulative voting in downtown Chicago 
Monday, November 19th. We're still firming up a location (though it 
is likely to be at the University of Illinois ? Chicago campus on the 
near West side). The time is 2:00 pm. For updated information, check 
the Center's website at www.midwestdemocracy.org or call us at 
312.587.7060.

FIVE MAYORS SIGN PRO-CUMULATIVE VOTING LETTER

Five Illinois mayors have signed a letter endorsing the drive to 
revive cumulative voting; this letter will be sent to every mayor in 
Illinois seeking their signature and support for a return to 
representation for all in the Illinois House.

The five mayors are Rockford Mayor Doug Scott, Highland Park Mayor 
Dan Pierce, Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins, Dixon Mayor Jim Burke and 
Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki.

Copies of the letter can be sent to anyone that requests one. Please 
contact your mayor and ask him or her to support the drive to revive 
cumulative voting.

NEW BOARD ELECTED FOR MIDWEST DEMOCRACY CENTER

The first elected Board of the Midwest Democracy Center takes office 
November 1st for one year terms. We used Irish-style proportional 
representation for our voting system (where voters get to rank 
candidates and the threshold to win one of seven seats is 1/7 of the 
vote). The new Board (in alphabetical order by first name) is:

Amy Connolly
Dan Johnson-Weinberger
Fred Nelson
Hannah Podlevsky
Kevin O'Malley
Paul Bonilla
Ted Sowinski

The first meeting of the Board is this Friday at 6:00 pm at Leona's 
restaurant near the Midwest Democracy Center. The address is 646 
North Franklin (right off the Kennedy at the Ohio exit). All are 
welcome to the dinner to get more involved in the Midwest Democracy 
Center (or just have a nice dinner).

CUMULATIVE VOTING ON TELEVISION

Thanks to the hard work of MDC Marketing Director Sarah Ranjit, our 
message on the shortcomings of single-member districts and the need 
to represent everyone with cumulative voting will be shown on Chicago 
cable channel 27 during the month of November, 24 hours a day, seven 
days a week.

Channel 27 is a bulletin board channel where different non-profits 
may broadcast their message in a `power-point' type of presentation. 
Sarah worked to create our video presentation that can be seen on 
channel 27. We also have a tape if you would like to get this four-
minute presentation on your cable access channel.

Dan Johnson-Weinberger appeared on the Chicago FOX affiliate's public 
affairs program Esta Semana discussing the Edgar-Mikva report calling 
for a return to cumulative voting. Thanks to John Brady for taping 
the show.

Please forward this newsletter (and if you'd like to subscribe to 
this monthly update, please send an email to MDCmonthly-
subscribe@yahoogroups.com ). Thank you for reading.

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