Governor Rod Blagojevich signed HB 138 into law yesterday, permitting county
boards to give cumulative voting rights in county elections that use
multi-seat districts and authorizing advisory referenda initiated by citizen
petition on any topic dealing with the structure of the county board.
http://www.legis.state.il.us/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=138&GAID=3&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=353&SessionID=3
I think this is the first legislation advancing an alternative electoral
system since the late 90s when Governor George W. Bush signed a Texas bill
allowing school boards to give cumulative voting rights in at-large
elections (Amarillo is the largest school board to do so).
Some press on the legislation -- I mean, law -- (front page news in the
Northwest Herald serving the northwest suburbs of Chicago) is here:
http://ww2.nwherald.com/NWH/news/279678181649042.bsp
Also, there's an interesting legal fight brewing over San Francisco's
implementation of instant runoff voting this November. Opponents of instant
runoff voting, led by Mayor Willie Brown and front-runner candidate Gavin
Newsom, are working every angle they can to postpone implementation. The
city charter explicitly calls for using instant runoff voting this November;
the city attorney issued an opinion that the city's Election Commission may
hold a different voting system if instant runoff voting isn't certified for
use by the Secretary of State and opponents are working to push up the
drop-dead date when the Election Commission must decide as early as
possible. Kevin Shelley was a supporter of Proposition A in 2002 when city
voters approved instant runoff voting; as the Secretary of State, we IRV
advocates are hopeful that his decisions will be friendly towards following
the will of the voters.
Lots of fun legal issues between the interaction of state law, city charter
and administrative certification.
I'm happy to provide more information if anyone's interested, on or off
list.
Dan
Dan Johnson-Weinberger
General Counsel
Center for Voting and Democracy
www.fairvote.org
312.933.4890
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