March electoral reform news in Illinois

Dan Johnson-Weinberger midwestdemocracy at yahoo.com
Mon, 24 Mar 2003 22:06:04 -0000

LEGISLATIVE AGENDA NEEDS YOUR HELP
RIDICULOUS RUNOFF ELECTIONS A WASTE OF TIME AND CASH
WHERE SHOULD THE CAPITOL BE? AN IRV POLL OPEN THIS WEEK
SUMMER CANVASSERS WANTED TO GET NEW MEMBERS

The Midwest Democracy Center is a non-profit, membership advocacy 
group that works to make our governments more democratic and 
representative. We partner with the D.C.-based Center for Voting and 
Democracy (www.fairvote.org).

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 voice. Electing three people from one big 
district instead of three people each from their own smaller district 
ensures that all voters have someone who speaks for them. That's real 
representation.

Our other goal is to use instant runoff voting for single-winner 
elections (like governor and mayor) to ensure the majority of voters 
gets to pick the winner in one election. 

Our website is www.midwestdemocracy.org and our telephone number is 
312.587.7060. We encourage your participation and membership! (Join 
online) by clicking here:
https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=xx817%40prairienet.org

LEGISLATIVE AGENDA MOVING FORWARD ? YOUR CALLS MATTER!

We are making slow and steady progress on legalizing cumulative 
voting and instant runoff voting this session; your phone calls to 
your state legislators matter! Please continue to call your state 
legislators and ask them to support this legislation.

Visit www.legis.state.il.us to track these bills and to find your 
state legislators' contact information.

Cumulative voting:

County boards ? HB 138 (Jack Franks ? Karen May ? Paul Froelich)
DESCRIPTION: Lots of county boards are perfect candidates to give 
cumulative voting rights ? they elect three or four people per 
district, and one party wins all the seats in the district. 
Unfortunately, it is illegal for a county board to give cumulative 
voting rights. This legislation gives county boards that right, and 
also authorizes advisory referenda for citizens to put a referendum 
on the ballot dealing with the structure of the county board.
STATUS: Passed the House 73-40, awaiting Senate action, picked up by 
Terry Link
ACTION ITEM: Contact your state senator and ask him/her to support HB 
138

Municipalities ? HB 2544 (Barbara Flynn Currie ? Lou Lang ? Paul 
Froelich)
DESCRIPTION: Lots of municipalities are also good candidates to give 
cumulative voting rights as they elect their candidates at-large and 
one slate of candidates tend to win all the seats. Current law is 
inadequate as it doesn't give municipalities the flexibility to grant 
cumulative voting with their current electoral system. The amended 
legislation lets any municipality (city, village or town) grant 
cumulative voting rights.
STATUS: Passed a House committee unanimously, waiting a House floor 
vote, deadline is April 4.
ACTION ITEM: Contact your state representative and ask him/her to 
become a co-sponsor of HB 2544. If you can, contact any municipal 
officials and ask them to endorse the legislation as well.

School boards ? SB 1371 (Miguel Del Valle)
DESCRIPTION: School boards are also great candidates to give 
cumulative voting rights. They are mostly at-large in Illinois (some 
use single-member districts, and some are appointed, as in Chicago), 
and it is illegal for school boards to give cumulative voting rights 
in at-large elections. School board elections are next week, April 
1st, in most Illinois communities. The legislation would give school 
boards the rights to give cumulative voting rights to voters.
STATUS: Never voted in the Education Committee, back to the Senate 
Rules Committee.
ACTION ITEM: Contact your school board candidates (or incumbents) and 
ask them if they will support the legislation if elected. 

Instant runoff voting

Municipalities ? HB 3301 (Paul Froelich ? Elaine Nekritz ? Mike 
Boland)
DESCRIPTION: Many municipalities hold runoff elections if no 
candidate earns a majority of the vote. This is a waste of time and 
money, as instant runoff voting would get the job done in one 
election. Currently it is illegal for a municipality to use instant 
runoff voting; this legislation would authority its use.
STATUS: Never voted in the Executive Committee, back to the House 
Rules Committee.
ACTION ITEM: Contact your local election administrator and ask them 
if they would support the legislation.

Overseas absentee voters ? HB 395 (Mike Boland ? Larry McKeon)
DESCRIPTION: Overseas and military absentee voters that are 
registered in a place with local runoff elections must cast two 
absentee ballots. This is ridiculous; Louisiana lets their overseas 
absentee voters cast one instant runoff ballot to save them time and 
make it more likely that they can vote. 
STATUS; Never voted in the Executive Committee; back to the House 
Rules Committee.
ACTION ITEM: Contact any veterans groups or armed services groups 
that you are familiar with and ask them to support the legislation.

Please contact Dan Johnson-Weinberger at midwestdemocracy@yahoo.com 
or 312.933.4890 (cell) with any information or questions. 

RIDICULOUS RUNOFF ELECTIONS A WASTE

As referenced above, we are in the middle of the runoff season for 
municipal elections. I live in the First Ward in Chicago, and we have 
a runoff election next Tuesday. We should use instant runoff voting 
so we don't have to pay for two elections ? we can consolidate the 
February election and the April runoff into one election by letting 
voters rank the candidates. 

WHERE SHOULD THE CAPITOL BE? VOTE TODAY IN AN IRV POLL

Should we move the Illinois capitol? Vote now in an instant runoff 
voting poll at www.instantrunoff.com

We released this poll last week with a press conference. 
Representative Paul Froelich and I talked about HB 3301, the bill to 
legalize instant runoff voting for municipal elections, and we got on 
WLS radio! This poll runs until Tuesday night, but we'll keep it on 
the website for a little longer than that just for fun. Vote now by 
going to www.instantrunoff.com. You can choose among Downtown 
Chicago, Peotone, Vandalia, Springfield, Kankakee and DuPage County.

SUMMER CANVASSERS NEEDED TO GET MORE MDC MEMBERS

We're trying an experiment this summer. 

We're going to try to put together a small team of democracy 
advocates that want a summer job and want to improve our democracy as 
canvassers.

This team will hit the streets and recruit new members of the Midwest 
Democracy Center. They'll work on a commission, and will hit 
festivals, fairs and go wherever crowds gather. 

Our strength is in numbers, and we constantly need to get new members 
to spread the word about electoral reform and help make it happen.

We especially need an experienced canvasser who would like to run a 
small canvass (between three and five people, ideally) to recruit 
members for the Midwest Democracy Center. 

Please contact Dan Johnson-Weinberger at 312.587.7060 or 
midwestdemocracy@yahoo.com if you are at all interested.

And if you haven't contributed recently, please do so by clicking 
here!

https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=xx817%40prairienet.org

Thank you for reading; please forward this newsletter!
Midwest Democracy Center
325 West Huron #304
Chicago, IL 60610
312.587.7060