idealist.org

A non-partisan, non-profit good-government group dedicated to exposing the fundamental shortcomings of our winner-take-all electoral system, and advocating for proportional voting systems instead. Our main goal is to revive cumulative voting, used in the Illinois House from 1870-1980. This system elected three representatives from a district, instead of just one, and gave each voter three votes, which could be given to candidates in any combination (3 votes for 1 candidate, 1 vote each for 3 candidates, etc.) This gave voters more choices and made elections more competitive. Political minorities, like Chicago Republicans and suburban Democrats, were consistently elected, lessening the tendency toward regional fighting. Instead, both parties reflected the entire state, and Illinois politics was more civil and effective. We also advocate for the Instant Runoff, to avoid the 'lesser-of-two-evils' syndrome.