Chicago
Sun-Times
Let's
bring back old way of voting Editorial
July 16,
2001
Here's a hard sell: What Illinois
needs is more politicians. But an intriguing new, or should we say
old, idea has emerged about the Legislature that's worth a look.
Twenty years ago the Illinois House had 177 members from 59
districts. A voter went to the polls with three votes that he could
cast for a single House candidate or spread them out for three
contenders. Usually, Republicans and Democrats each offered two
candidates. Voters elected two majority party candidates, but the
minority party was also able to send representation from each
district. That meant that Illinois once had a significant number of
Republican legislators from Chicago and Democratic lawmakers from
strong GOP suburbs. But in 1980, by constitutional amendment and in
the name of cost-cutting, the House was shrunk to 117 and a winner-
take-all voting procedure replaced cumulative
voting.
The current system is now under
attack from some pretty distinguished quarters. Former U.S. judge
and Clinton White House counsel Abner Mikva and former GOP Gov. Jim
Edgar co-chaired an examination of the system by a 70-member panel.
Their report recommends returning to cumulative voting. It says the
current system stifles competition (half of district races in 2000
were uncontested), erodes participation in the House (the four
legislative leaders hold the purse strings and the lawmaking power)
and disillusions voters (only 44 percent eligible to vote did so in
the last legislative contests--Mikva says one of his legislative
races under the old system outpolled a presidential
contest).
The ideal of representative democracy is
often poorly served in Springfield. Important matters such as
billion dollar-plus improvements to the state's community colleges
get attention that can be timed with a stopwatch. What's the point
of thorough examination when in the end, it usually comes down to
the consensus of the Four Tops? The Mikva-Edgar panel says that the
solution to that may be a return to the old. Sure, if the argument
is framed as one of more politicians, it's a loser. But cumulative
voting is more appealing when viewed through the lens of a more
representative, inclusive and democratic Legislature with a strong
minority voice.
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