June 4, 2024
Action Ridge member Clarice Olson originally introduced the concept of Ranked Choice Voting to our group about 5 years ago. I worked with her to present a Post -It note demonstration. She and I then met with State Representative Laura Murphy who was receptive to the idea. She reintroduced an RCV bill in the legislature that had originally been introduced by then State Senator Daniel Biss. It now has several additional sponsors, and a similar bill was introduced in the House.
Gov. Pritzker commissioned a Task Force to study the issue and our state's willingness to embrace the method and our abilities and needs to handle the actual process. Although I was not a member of the Task Force, I did participate in some of the meetings that were conducted via Zoom and also have reviewed the available Minutes. The findings will be presented soon.
I continue to present the idea of RCV to other groups in the community and attend some of Fair Vote of Illinois' monthly meetings via Zoom.
On May 17th the House reintroduced the Voters Choice Act. This Act would provide funding for those communities that wish to adopt Ranked Choice Voting and need to replace or upgrade their current voting software and train staff. The results of my efforts, supported by Action Ridge, to further RCV are a real success story. When the voting method is used statewide in Illinois, we can declare victory.
Pat Lofthouse
Voting and Election Lead for Ranked Choice Voting