Oak Park residents to vote on ranked choice voting in November

Ranked choice voting will be on the ballot in Oak Park, Illinois, this November.

Thanks to thousands of civic-minded Oak Park residents and the voting reform organization FairVote Illinois, VOICE Oak Park, and the League of Women Voters of Oak Park-River Forest, Oak Park voters will have the option on Nov. 5 to adopt ranked choice voting for their Village Board elections in a binding referendum. 

“Getting ranked choice voting on the Oak Park ballot is a huge success,” said FairVote Illinois Executive Director Andrew Szilva. “Volunteers have been working toward this milestone for months, and now we’re one step closer to bringing more choices and better representation to voters across the state of Illinois.”

If the ballot referendum passes, Oak Park residents will use ranked choice voting, or RCV, to elect Village Board members beginning in April 2027. Oak Park would be the second municipality in Illinois and in Cook County to use RCV for local elections. Voters in Evanston, Illinois, voted to adopt RCV for their local elections in November 2022.

Getting RCV on the Oak Park ballot is the culmination of months of work by volunteers who gathered signatures from residents interested in upgrading Oak Park’s voting system. On Aug. 5, FairVote Illinois submitted the 3,254 signatures to the village clerk, ensuring the referendum’s inclusion on the next ballot.  

Ranked choice voting is the fastest-growing nonpartisan voting reform in the nation and has now grown to 50 states, counties, and cities, home to approximately 16 million Americans across the nation. RCV promotes majority support, gives voters more choice, saves money spent on elections and discourages negative campaigning.

Instead of voting for a single candidate, the voter ranks candidates in order of preference — first choice, second choice, third choice, and so on. If a candidate has a majority of voters’ first-choice votes, that candidate wins, just as in a typical election. But if no candidate has enough votes to win, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voters who ranked that candidate as their first choice have their votes transferred to their second choice. The process repeats until a candidate has secured a majority of votes. This way, everyone gets a say, and no one feels like their voice wasn't heard.

“RCV is an obvious upgrade, which is why it’s gaining in popularity nationwide,” Szilva said. “Evanston chose RCV for their elections, and we’re confident that Oak Park will do the same. Fixing politics starts at the ballot box, and by working to bring RCV to Illinois, we’re working to ensure that voters’ voices are heard.”

About FairVote Illinois

Incorporated in 2020, FairVote Illinois is made up of volunteers who are supporters of democracy, who value freedom and fairness in our elections, and who are passionate about implementing 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 (RCV). We believe Illinois voters should have a greater choice in who represents them, a stronger voice that is heard by those in office, and representation that better reflects their values, beliefs, and backgrounds.

Photo: (from left to right) Rebecca Williams, Bruce Lehman, Manolo Avolos, Katie Stabb, Eva Carson. On August 5, 2024, volunteers from FairVote Illinois and VOICE submitted 3,254 signatures to the Oak Park Village Clerk to put a ranked choice voting referendum on Oak Park’s November ballot.