Alex Berkowitz
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Alex Berkowitz published How can I support FairVote Illinois? in Questions About FairVote Illinois 2021-05-02 11:23:26 -0500
How can I support FairVote Illinois?
Answer
There are several ways you can get involved with FairVote Illinois, from joining one of our many teams and/or canvassing at events, to making a donation or simply signing up to show your support for RCV in Illinois. Join us for one of our monthly statewide meetings to learn more about the ins and outs of FairVote Illinois and find a way to contribute that works best for you.
Click here to view our events calendar and RSVP to our next meeting. All are welcome.
Click here to see all the ways you can help FairVote Illinois. -
Alex Berkowitz published What does FairVote Illinois do? in Questions About FairVote Illinois 2021-05-02 11:23:07 -0500
What does FairVote Illinois do?
Answer
Fairvote Illinois is raising awareness of — and support for — RCV in the state, educating voters and politicians about the benefits of RCV and working to implement RCV throughout Illinois for local, state and federal elections.
We do this through the hard work of volunteers who canvas at events, promote RCV online and through social media, contact their representatives, recruit others to join our cause, coordinate with other community groups, and so much more. -
Alex Berkowitz published What is FairVote Illinois? in Questions About FairVote Illinois 2021-05-02 11:22:51 -0500
What is FairVote Illinois?
Answer
We are a nonpartisan, volunteer-run organization advocating for ranked choice voting in Illinois.
Our mission is to empower Illinois voters to be heard, supported, and represented by improving freedom and fairness in our elections through ranked choice voting.Learn more about FairVote Illinois, our mission, and our team by visiting our About Us page.
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Alex Berkowitz published Questions About FairVote Illinois in Frequently Asked Questions 2021-05-02 11:22:41 -0500
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Is RCV constitutional?
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Yes. The U.S. Constitution does not indicate a method or specific voting system for federal, state, and local elections. The following cases have all upheld RCV as constitutional.
- Baber v. Dunlap, 1:18-cv-465 (D.Me. Dec. 13, 2018) (upholding RCV in Maine)
- Dudum v. Arntz, 640 F.3d 1098 (9th Cir. 2011) (upholding RCV in San Francisco)
- McSweeney v. City of Cambridge, 665 N.E.2d 11 (Mass. 1996) (upholding RCV in Cambridge);
- Minnesota Voters Alliance v. City of Minneapolis, 766 N.W.2d 683 (Minn. 2009) (upholding RCV in Minneapolis)
- Stephenson v. Ann Arbor Bd. of Comm'rs, No. 75-10166 AW (Mich. Cir. Ct. Cnt'y of Jackson 1975) (Michigan district level court upholding RCV in Ann Arbor)
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Alex Berkowitz published What kind of candidates win RCV elections? in General RCV Questions 2021-05-02 11:21:56 -0500
What kind of candidates win RCV elections?
Answer
Candidates that do best in RCV elections appeal to a large number of voters in order to gain not just first-choice votes, but also second- and even third-choice votes. RCV prevents candidates from winning by only appealing to a small base of voters in a fractured field — a viable and commonly used strategy with our current winner-take-all system.
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Alex Berkowitz published Does RCV favor one political party? in General RCV Questions 2021-05-02 11:21:41 -0500
Does RCV favor one political party over others?
Answer
No. RCV does not favor any one political party. RCV is a nonpartisan voting reform designed to improve freedom and fairness in our elections. RCV has support in both major political parties, among third parties, and among independent voters.
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Alex Berkowitz published Does RCV mean you get to vote more than once or that you get more than one vote? in General RCV Questions 2021-05-02 11:21:27 -0500
Does RCV mean you get to vote more than once or that you get more than one vote?
Answer
No. Just like our current winner-take-all voting system, you still get only one vote per race with RCV. The difference is, you have the option to rank your choices rather than only selecting your first choice.
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Alex Berkowitz published Am I allowed to vote for just one candidate? in General RCV Questions 2021-05-02 11:21:06 -0500
Am I allowed to vote for just one candidate?
Answer
Yes. Voters are not required to rank candidates in an RCV election. A voter may select just one candidate as their preferred choice and choose to not rank additional candidates, and this will not harm their first choice’s chances of winning. However, the benefit of ranking candidates is that your ballot will continue to count if your first choice is eliminated.
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Alex Berkowitz published How many candidates can I rank? in General RCV Questions 2021-05-02 11:20:41 -0500
How many candidates can I rank?
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The number of candidates a voter can rank in an RCV election may differ by community based on local laws, the number of candidates running, capabilities of voting equipment and software, and other factors. In general, RCV elections allow voters to rank at least three candidates.
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Alex Berkowitz published Why is RCV a better way to vote? in General RCV Questions 2021-05-02 11:17:20 -0500
Why is RCV a better way to vote?
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Ranked choice voting is a better way to vote than our current winner-take-all system because it:
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Promotes majority support
- More than half of all voters will select the winner with one of their choices.
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Encourages positive campaigning
- In addition to campaigning for 1st choice votes, candidates also compete to be the 2nd or even 3rd choice of their opponents’ supporters, which disincentivizes negative campaigning.
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Provides more choice for voters
- RCV encourages more candidates to run because they don’t have to worry about taking away votes from a similar candidate or waiting for “their turn.” This inherently promotes diversity of political viewpoints as well as diversity of backgrounds, beliefs, and demographics.
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Allows voters to vote for their favorite candidate
- Voters are able to cast their first-choice vote for a candidate they truly support rather than voting against the candidate they oppose the most. In addition, voters can vote for their first-choice candidate without fear of “vote splitting” or throwing away their vote.
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Saves tax dollars
- RCV eliminates the need for separate, expensive runoff elections because it is designed to produce a winner who receives a majority of support in a single election.
- For example, the 2019 Chicago mayoral runoff election cost taxpayers $3.4 million dollars. This cost would not have been incurred with RCV because the runoff would have occurred instantly in the general election. This is why RCV is sometimes referred to as “instant-runoff voting.”
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Promotes majority support
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How does RCV work?
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With RCV, voters cast a single ballot and rank candidates in the order they prefer (first choice, second choice, third choice, and so on). Voters’ first choices are then counted. If a candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, meaning more than 50%, that candidate wins. If no candidate has a majority of first-choice votes, the race is decided by an “instant runoff” (RCV is also known as Instant-Runoff Voting, or IRV). In the instant runoff process, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters who picked that candidate as their first choice will have their vote moved to their second choice automatically. This continues until a candidate has over 50% of the vote and wins the election.
Learn more on our About Ranked Choice Voting page or watch our explainer video
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Alex Berkowitz published What is ranked choice voting? in General RCV Questions 2021-05-02 11:16:00 -0500
What is ranked choice voting?
Answer
Ranked choice voting (RCV) is a simple upgrade to our current voting system that allows voters to rank multiple candidates in the order of their preference.
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Alex Berkowitz published General RCV Questions in Frequently Asked Questions 2021-05-02 11:15:34 -0500
General RCV Questions
You can also learn more about RCV and how it works on our About Ranked Choice Voting page!
- What is ranked choice voting?
- How does RCV work?
- Why is RCV a better way to vote?
- How many candidates can I rank?
- Am I allowed to vote for just one candidate?
- Does RCV mean you get to vote more than once or that you get more than one vote?
- Does RCV favor one political party over others?
- What kind of candidates win RCV elections?
- Is RCV constitutional?
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The Latest RCV News
Evanston has officially adopted RCV!
Thanks to the hard work from all of our volunteers, partner organizations, and thousands of voters, Evanston is paving the way for election reform in Illinois by becoming the first city to officially adopt ranked choice voting for all local elections.
Ranked choice voting wins big in November mid-termsThe November 2022 election was the best for ranked choice voting yet! 8 new jurisdictions voted to adopt ranked choice voting for their elections, including the state of Nevada, Portland, OR, and Fort Collins, CO. We also saw several jurisdictions use RCV for the first time, including Alaska.
We need you! Join us in building our network of activists in educating the public and reaching out to legislators!
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Call Your State Senator
Urgent! Take these actions to bring ranked choice voting to Illinois!
1. Call Senate President Don Harmon and ask him to call the Ranked Choice Voting Bill (SB1785) for a hearing:
2. Call your state senator and ask them to cosponsor SB1785 for Ranked Choice Voting!
We will be giving a presentation to a committee of the Illinois State Senate at the end of the month, and we need to build momentum for our bill! That means we need YOU to take two minutes to call your Senator today - it’s easy and fun! And don’t worry - the Senators’ offices expect phone calls from constituents. They want to hear from you!
(Tip: if you don’t enjoy talking on the phone to humans, call after hours and leave a voicemail!)
Here’s an example of what you can say:
“Hi my name is ____ and I am a constituent of Senator _______. I would like to ask the Senator to consider becoming a cosponsor of the Ranked Choice Voting bill SB1785 (add your own personal reason if you like, but you don’t have to) Thank you!”
Senators Laura Murphy, Mike Simmons, Robert Peters, Scott Bennett, Laura Fine, Ann Gillespie, Sara Feigenholtz, and Cristina Pacione-Zayas are already sponsoring, so no need to bug them!
Once you enter your address on the right side of that page, you'll see two results. Select the result that is listed as upper chamber - that's your Senator!
We recommend calling their Springfield office, but you can call their district office, too, if you want!
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Try It Out
Try out out interactive ranked choice voting demo and see how easy it is!
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Alex Berkowitz wants to volunteer 2021-05-13 11:50:36 -0500
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Alex Berkowitz 160sc