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Could elections in Illinois benefit from a change in how we vote?

The Center Square by The Center Square
March 27, 2018
in Decision 2018, Decision 2020, Governmental Watchdogs, Illinois, Political Party News, Politics
Reading Time: 3 mins read
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SPRINGFIELD (Illinois News Network) — Fair Vote, a non-partisan election reform group, advocates for a move to ranked-choice voting. Under the system, voters have the ability to rank as many candidates as they want in order of preference.

Geoffrey Cubbage, secretary of the Illinois Green Party, says an election reform like this already is a part of his party’s platform. He said ranked-choice could improve the system by eliminating the so-called “spoiler effect.”

“It gives everybody the ability to vote for their first choice,” Cubbage said, “even if that is a candidate from a party with less institutional support, with less overall membership, who perhaps has less of a shot of winning.”

If no candidate secures a majority of first choice votes, the lowest-performing one is eliminated and second choice votes then are added to the tally. Drew Spencer Penrose, Law and Policy Director at Fair Vote, said one benefit to the system is more civil campaigns.

“Under ranked-choice voting, it’s very rare you’ll win on based on ‘first choices’ alone, if it’s an open seat,” Penrose said. “That means you don’t want to be out there slinging mud at your opponent. You want their supporters to rank you second.”

Lex Green, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Illinois, said he believes voters would be far more likely to vote a third-party candidate as their “first choice” under a ranked-choice system.

“We get this all the time,” Green said. “The excuse that they’re voting against the candidate they dislike, and therefore are rallying around the one they think is most likely to beat that candidate, rather than voting for someone they believe in or a party that represents their views.”

However, a change would occur only if lawmakers pass a bill to eliminate the existing system, leaving Green pessimistic about the chances.

“The whole ballot access and voting laws in Illinois are set up to be exclusionary,” Green said. “I do not hold out any hope that either of the parties in the general assembly would vote to make it easier for their competition.”

Cubbage also said getting a reform like this into law would take a great deal of pressure from citizens.

“People who are currently in the assembly got there by using the current system,” Cubbage said. “It works for them, it clearly didn’t work for their opponents. So their motivation to change it is extremely low. That is a change that’s going to have to come from the grass roots. That is something that citizen activists will have to push for.”

Critics warn about the cost and complexity of ranked choice voting, in addition to the issue of educating voters about the process. But Penrose said where it’s been tried, voters tend to like it.

“We’ve seen these elections go more and more smoothly,” Penrose said. “Overwhelmingly, people say they found the ballot easy to use. A majority said they liked the system and want it to continue.”

Maine will become the first state to implement ranked choice voting in a statewide primary election in June. Various municipalities across the U.S. also have adopted the process, including Minneapolis, San Francisco and Santa Fe.

State Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) introduced a bill last year to set up a ranked-choice voting system for Illinois state elections. However, the bill garnered no co-sponsors and currently sits in committee.

The Center Square
Website | + posts

The Center Square -- formerly known as Watchdog.org and the Illinois News Network -- and their reporters represent 18 states across the United States as the taxpayers' watchdog, exposing the way government really works.

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Some rights reserved 2017-2023 by Heartland Newsfeed, a subsidiary partnership by Heartland Internet Media Networks and Heartland Media Group of Central Illinois LLC. Content published by Heartland Newsfeed staff is covered by the BipCot NoGov license. This allows use and re-use by anyone except governments and government agents. License on record. JNews theme designed and developed by Jegtheme.

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