Become a member of the Midwest Democracy Center
John Paul Schmit johnpauls at operamail.com
Thu, 16 Sep 2004 15:26:39 -0500
Hello everyone,
I am emailing you today to encourage you all to become members of the
Midwest Democracy Center, so that we can be better able to purse
cumulative voting, instant runoff voting and all of the other projects of
the center. If you have recently recieved a letter from us asking you to
become a member, please do so. If not I have pasted a letter below with a
membership form at the bottom. Please print out the member from and send
it to the address on your form.
Thank you for your support.
John Paul
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Dear Advocate of Better Democracy,
The Midwest Democracy Center is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy
organization dedicated to improving elections in Illinois and throughout
the Midwest.
We are working to ensure that the will of the people of Illinois is
reflected in our elected representatives by promoting reforms such as
cumulative voting rights, instant runoff voting and same day voter
registration. We need your financial support by joining the organization
to continue to work towards this vital goal.
Illinois elections can do a better job of reflecting the will of the
voters. Prior to 1980, Illinois used cumulative voting to elect the state
House of Representatives. Three representatives were elected from each
district, and each voter got three votes to distribute among the
candidates as he or she wished. With cumulative voting rights, Republicans
were regularly elected from Chicago and Democrats were elected from the
suburbs and rural areas. Almost every district had bipartisan
representation, so every voice was heard. As a result, the major parties
had to take into account the needs of the entire state, not just certain
areas. We are working to bring back cumulative voting so that everyone can
be represented in Springfield.
Recently the voters of San Francisco improved the way they elect their
mayor and local government by adopting Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). Voters
rank the candidates – ‘1’ to their first choice, ‘2’ so the second, and so
on. If no candidate wins an outright majority of the first-choices, the
ballots are counted again and an instant runoff†is held between the top
two candidates. Every other candidate is eliminated and the second-choices
on those ballots are added onto the first-choices of the surviving
candidates – just like a runoff election. This eliminates the so-called
“wasted votes problem†than can occur when many candidates split the vote
and saves cities and taxpayers the expense of holding two elections. We
are working to allow cities in Illinois to adopt instant runoff voting
with a booth at the Illinois Municipal League’s annual convention. Mary
Schumann is also mailing and calling municipal officials all over the
state and pitching them directly on using instant runoff voting.
We also are working to protect the rights of military and overseas voters
by promoting the use of IRV. Currently these voters often miss voting in
municipal elections because the time between the February primary and
April general election is too short for a general election ballot to be
sent overseas and returned. We are working to allow military and overseas
voters to send back two ballots – one regular ballot for the February
election and one instant runoff ballot where the voter ranks all the
candidates and sends them both back before the February election. There
are several bills on the topic introduced that we wrote (HB 395 and HB
4141), and we are testifying before the State Board of Elections at their
September meeting. Louisiana already provides this service and we hope
Illinois will too.
Voter turnout is higher in Minnesota and Wisconsin than in other
midwestern states. Why? Because these states allow voters to register on
Election Day. Here, Illinois closes registration 28 days before the
election. We are actively working to shorten the period when it is illegal
to register to vote – with a goal of same-day registration.
In July of 2003, the Midwest Democracy Center celebrated our biggest
victory to date – Governor Balgojevich signed House Bill 138, which
permits counties to provide cumulative voting rights in multi-member
districts! We were able to win this victory though the hard work or our
staff and our general membership. Midwest Democracy Center staff members
spoke to civic groups and individual voters throughout Illinois. Our
members wrote letters to their elected representatives and newspapers in
support of this election reform. Finally and most importantly, our staff
took our cause directly to Springfield where we lobbied the General
Assembly and worked with our sponsors Representative Jack Franks and
Senator Terry Link.
We are currently working on a variety of election reform issues:
- Moving the voter registration deadline from 28 days before an election
to 14 days. In the last legislative session in Springfield, both the State
Assembly and the State Senate passed bills (SB 2133) to make this change.
Unfortunately, they did not have enough time to reconcile the two versions
of the bill. We hope to get this legislation on the Governor’s desk in the
next months.
- Urging county governments to provide cumulative voting rights (building
off our successful work passing HB 138 in 2003). Mary Schumann has
testified before our top targeted county governments – Macon, Tazewell and
Henry Counties.
- Instant runoff voting for overseas voters, primaries and general
elections
- Cumulative voting for the House of Representatives. We are working to
get a state constitutional amendment (HJRCA 4) passed that put the
question on the ballot.
We need your help to make these reforms a reality! Please become a member
of the Midwest Democracy Center. Your donation will help to pay for the
public education and lobbying efforts needed for these reforms. In
addition, we would like to count on you as someone who will help to lobby
your state and local representatives to support the bills needed to make
these changes. Please fill out the enclosed form, and join our struggle
for a better democracy in Illinois and the entire Midwest. Please also
sign up for our listservs at our website at www.midwestdemocracy.org
Please join us! Your support will help strengthen democracy in Illinois!
Especially as we prepare for the 2005 General Assembly session, this is
the time to invest in a better democracy.
Sincerely,
Dan Johnson-Weinberger
Midwest Democracy Center Director
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MIDWEST DEMOCRACY CENTER MEMBERSHIP FORM
Yes! I wish to join the Midwest Democracy Center and help strengthen our
election systems!
Name ____________________________________
Date__________________________________
Address___________________________________ Phone
(home)___________________________
City, State, Zip______________________________
Email__________________________________
____ I am including donation of $35__ $50__ $75__ $100__ $250__
$ other_____
____ Sign me up for a e-mail list: __News (low traffic) __Instant runoff
voting __Cumulative voting
____ Let me know about opportunities to lobby my elected representatives
____ Let me know about Midwest Democracy Center lobbying days in
Springfield
Please make your check payable to the Midwest Democracy Center and mail
to: 1310 Greenridge Dr., Urbana, IL 61802
Note: Because the Midwest Democracy Center lobbies elected officials in
person, donations are not tax deductible.
intrn0904