Rockford
Register-Star
The Road to
Electoral Reform is open By John Anderson April 14, 2002
Chuck Sweeny's column (Rockford Register Star, March
17) was properly critical of our present system of electing members
of the Illinois General Assembly. The reversion to single-member
districts and the consequences of a winner-take-all method of
election have produced less competitive contests. It also has
resulted in an unhealthy (for democracy) political environment with
a depressing effect on the full representation of voices in a
political in a political district that should be heard.
For more than a century Illinois prospered under a
form of semi-proportional representation (PR) called cumulative
voting. It originally was fostered by a desire to end the political
separation between Democrats and Republicans caused by the Civil
War. Multiple-member districts would mean that members of one party
would not dominate to the extent of total exclusion of the other in
areas that because of the war had become traditionally Democratic or
Republican. With this reform a few Republicans could carry their
party's message from Cook County to Springfield. In downstate
Illinois and in Republican redoubts such as DuPage County, a
Democratic voice like that of Giddy Dyer; and in Winnebago County
like Zeke Giorgi, would provide some balance. The untoward results
since the adoption of the "Cut back Amendment" in the guise of
saving money with a smaller legislature has become instead "Cutoff
Amendment." In many one-party districts thousands of voters are in
effect disenfranchised and have no voice. This has had the further
effect of concentrating greater power to set the state's agenda in
the "Four Tops"-- the two leaders in each House of the Illinois
legislature. We need full representation of political, racial, and
ethnic minorities. To that end it will require more than just
legislation to help the states finance better machinery to register
and tabulate votes. It will take more than getting rid of soft money
and special interest contributions. I repeat: We must look at the
structure and design of our voting systems. We must not be tied to
single-member districts where with our plurality,
first-past-the-post system, where no third party or independent
candidate need ever apply for they inevitably will be dismissed as
spoilers. We should not tolerate forever a system where in over one
half of our state legislature districts there is not even an
opposition candidate in the general election. Is it really so
difficult to assign the reason for the shrinking presence of the
voter at elections, which are no contest at all? Fortunately in
Illinois there is more than just a glimmer of hope on the horizon.
In the Illinois House there is HJRCA4 and a companion piece of
legislation in the Senate, SJRCA43, to revive cumulative voting and
reconfigure our state electoral map by establishing multiple-member
districts. This would restore the status quo ante that gave us a
legislature once described as containing the "best and the
brightest." This reform grew out of a bipartisan effort co-chaired
by former Republican Governor Jim Edgar and former Democratic
congressman and federal judge Abner Mikva. The drive to revive is
being coordinated in Illinois by the Midwest Democracy Center, which
is led by Dan Johnson-Weinberger, a recent University of Chicago law
graduate. There is still time to act and put the proposition of the
restoration of cumulative voting before the voters of Illinois. It
can be accomplished by action of the legislature or if they will not
act, to bring it to the votes then the voters can petition for a
referendum. This change would put Illinois in the vanguard of states
that want to give genuine meaning to voting reform and full
representation. Has this led to the stifling of creativity in the
search for better solutions to growing problems? Has it repressed
the efforts to achieve broader consensus on new ideas with less
recourse to purely party gamesmanship? I believe the answer to both
questions must be a resounding yes. Many voices are being heard,
particularly since the presidential election of 2000 and its impetus
for reform to reexamine our electoral process. Yes, we need to
replace punch cards with touch screen voting. Yes, we need to reduce
the pernicious effects of soft money and rid our system from the
bondage of an unholy alliance of big money and aspirants for public
office. However; the problems are not just only mechanical and
monetary. They also are systemic. Our electoral institutions need
fundamental change in their design. John Anderson, a Rockford
native, was a congressman from 1960 through 1980 and ran for
president as an independent candidate in
1980.
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