Illinois' use of cumulative voting in three-seat districts for the state
House of Representatives lasted until 1982. About 55 of the 59 districts had
'real' bipartisan representation -- that is, the representative of the
minority party was an actual member of the minority party (suburban
Democrat, Chicago Republican). Consistently, three or four or five
legislators of the 'minority' party were, in fact, members of the majority
party. This is largely because those districts were 90% or 95% Democratic,
instead of 65% or 70% Democrat (the latter resulted in two Democrats and one
Republican). These few districts were all in the city of Chicago, were
usually African-American districts, and were the source of much frustration
from Republicans who felt cheated. One or two of these districts came from
the West Side of Chicago, where mob influence was strong in the 50s and 60s,
and mob-style corruption was linked in many minds with three-member
districts and cumulative voting.
Peoria, Illinois (the only muncipality that uses cumulative voting rights in
local elections in the state), was the epicenter of anti-cumulative voting
sentiment in Illinois. Over 80% (!) of Peoria County voters approved the
Cutback Amendment of 1980 that eliminated three-member districts with
cumulative voting rights in favor of two single-member districts (and the
third member of the House was fired, shrinking the House from 177 members to
118 and providing the populist fuel for an affirmative vote -- let's fire 59
lousy politicians). Instructively, Illinois voters approved the retention of
three-member districts in a statewide vote in 1970.
My guess is that Sam's work in the 1980s in Illinois was mostly in Downstate
towns with Republican-leaning electorates. This was a core constituency
against three-member districts in the state, and it is insightful (for me,
at least) that they resisted using cumulative voting in municipal elections.
During the legislative debate for HB 138, Peoria-area representatives were
the strongest opponents of allowing county boards to grant cumulative voting
rights (the Peoria state senator was the only Senate Democrat to vote no).
I personally believe that a link between representation for political
minorities through three-member districts with cumulative voting rights and
political corruption is a red herring. I'm sad to report that political
corruption in Illinois has not disappeared since 1980 (we're awaiting the
indictment of our most recent governor, George Ryan, any day now), and last
week, another former state legislator Roger "The Hog" Stanley pled guilty to
charges of public corruption.
I find it fascinating to see different ideologies wrestle with the concept
of representation for political minorites in Illinois through cumulative
voting rights, and invite further study in the state by academic experts!
Best,
Dan
Dan Johnson-Weinberger
General Counsel
Center for Voting and Democracy
www.fairvote.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sam Issacharoff" <sissac@law.columbia.edu>
To: <smulroy@memphis.edu>; "Dan Johnson-Weinberger" <djw@fairvote.org>
Cc: <election-law@majordomo.lls.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 7:57 PM
Subject: Re: Illinois election legislation
There is a history to cumulative voting in Illinois that complicates the
issue. Until about the 1960s (this is from memory, so my dates may be
off)
Illinois had cumulative voting for a number of offices, including, I
believe, the state legislature. A system emerged in which the parties
effectively did not run candidates against one of the slotted positions,
so
that it locked in longstanding political deals. I do not know how stable
this was, or why it should be so. But I was surprised to find that when I
litigated a number of at-large election challenges in Illinois in the
mid-1980s there was a strong historic association of cumulative voting
with
ward-boss corruption. This was a major obstacle in the first success we
had
in obtaining cumulative voting through litigation and settlement in Peoria
in about 1987.
----- Original Message -----
From: <smulroy@memphis.edu>
To: "Dan Johnson-Weinberger" <djw@fairvote.org>
Cc: <election-law@majordomo.lls.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 8:39 PM
Subject: Re: Illinois election legislation
This is great news. I've always thought that if we were to move away
from the tyranny of the winner-take-all system, it would have to begin
slowly and at the local level.
Dan, please let me know if there's anything I can do to help.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Johnson-Weinberger" <proportionalrepresentation@msn.com>
Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 4:10 pm
Subject: Illinois election legislation
I think this is on-topic.
The Illinois General Assembly has passed legislation to permit
county boards
to give cumulative voting rights in county elections.
Many counties in Illinois use multi-seat districts without
cumulative voting
rights; the political minority is then dramatically under-represented.
DuPage County is the prime example (the home of U.S. Congressman
Henry Hyde,
just west of Chicago's Cook County): with 6 districts electing
three county
board members each, not a single Democrat serves on the county board.
Democrats typically earn at least a third of the vote in each of the
districts (and some Democratic statewide candidates have earned a
majorityof the vote in the county), but Republicans win all 18 seats.
If voters enjoyed cumulative voting rights, it is extremely likely
that the
Democratic minority in DuPage County would elect one of the three
countyboard members in each of the districts, more accurately
reflecting the
electorate.
Most of the counties that are majority Democratic use single-member
districts, so Republicans generally have some representation
(though still
generally under-represented).
Governor Blagojevich has until approximately August 9th to sign the
legislation. The bill number is HB 138. The full text and legislative
history of the bill are here:
http://www.legis.state.il.us/legislation/BillStatus.asp?
DocNum=138&GAID=3&Do
cTypeID=HB&LegId=353&SessionID=3
The legislation also authorizes citizen-initiated advisory
referenda on the
structure of the county board.
If the governor signs the bill, I'll post to the list any news of any
counties that take advantage of the new opportunity to grant
cumulativevoting rights. (There are 102 counties, about half of
which use multi-seat
districts, so I'm hoping we'll snag at least one or two). If
anyone would
like more information about the legislation, I'm happy to provide
it on- or
off-list.
Best,
Dan
Dan Johnson-Weinberger
General Counsel
Center for Voting and Democracy
325 West Huron #304
Chicago, IL 60610
www.fairvote.org
djw@fairvote.org
312.587.7060 (office)
312.933.4890 (mobile)
Electing a legislature?
Use cumulative voting in three-member districts so all voters
have a
voice
Electing an executive like governor, mayor or president?
Use instant runoff voting so the winner has a majority
mandate and no
vote is wasted
"Those who are saying it cannot be done should not interrupt those
who are
doing it." Chinese proverb