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What is ranked choice voting and why is it on the Illinois ballot

Online Niel October 31, 2024

Voters in Peoria County will make their voices heard on whether or not the state of Illinois should opt for ranked choice voting in future elections.

A nonbinding referendum will be on the Nov. 5 ballot asking voters whether the state should use the system, which is designed to prevent spoilers and allow for a more accurate representation of voter preferences.

Here’s what it is and how it would work in practice:

What is ranked choice voting?

Conformable FairVotea nonprofit advocacy group seeking reforms to America’s electoral process, ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank a group of candidates in order of preference.

For example, six candidates were on the ballot in Illinois in the 2020 presidential election—the two major party candidates in Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and four minor candidates, Libertarian Jo Jorgenson, Howie Hawkins of the Green Party, Brian Carroll of at American Solidarity. Party and Gloria La Riva of the Party of Socialism and Liberation.

Normally, a voter would choose any one of these six candidates and cast the only vote for the candidate of their choice. No indication is made as to whether or not you considered other candidates; you only have one vote.

Elective voting, on the other hand, would allow one to rank any of these candidates in the order they prefer. For example, a voter might prefer the Green Party candidate over the Democrat or the Libertarian over the Republican.

In theory, ranked-choice voting would allow them to do this, while ranking the other candidates in any way they prefer.

How is a winner determined?

The determination a winner is chosen round by round, meaning that, absent a majority, counting continues with the voters’ second choice until one receives 50% or more of the vote.

In the first round, the candidates’ votes are counted according to who made their number one choice on the ballots. However, the candidate with the fewest votes in each round is eliminated until a majority is achieved by one candidate by combining first-choice votes with second-choice votes from other candidates.

What is the question on the ballot?

The question on the Peoria Township ballot — approved at its April 9 meeting — seeks voter input and is not binding.

The text reads: “If the state of Illinois adopts ranked-choice voting — a system that gives voters the ability to rank multiple choices in a process that ensures the winner has won the approval of a majority of voters — it allows voters to vote for their true preference. , get rid of the “spoiler effect” and encourage more positive campaigning — for state and federal elections?”

What happens if the referendum is approved?

This is a non-binding referendum, so no action can be taken on the matter unless Illinois General Assembly they take it on themselves. Otherwise, it’s just a supporting statement for an intriguing idea.

Are there examples of states or cities using ranked choice voting?

Most notably, Maine and Alaska each use ranked-choice voting in some capacity for federal and state elections.

Tomorrow implemented his system following a 2016 referendum that was sort of a response to Republican Paul LePage, a notorious conservative, who won two terms as governor of the Democratic-leaning state with less than 50 percent of the vote after voters more liberals split between Democrats. and independent candidates.

However, the state Supreme Court pent-up that the system could only be used at the state level for primary elections, meaning that electoral voting would not apply to the types of elections it was intended for when the referendum was passed.

It still applies to federal races and has been used in congressional races on two separate occasions in Maine, in 2018 and 2022 in the 2nd Congressional District, with Democrat Jared Golden winning in a ranked-choice runoff.

Alaska it passed a referendum in 2020 that would allow voting by choice, which has come into play 2022 when Mary Peltola won the special election to take over the state’s only congressional seat after the death of longtime Rep. Don Young.

Closer to home, ranked-choice voting will be used in Illinois municipal elections in Evanston after a 2022 the referendum approved the use of the system for their mayoral elections as well as those for city offices.