Page 22 - FOP Magazine March 2019

Contentious mayoral election would be better served by ranked-choice voting
The results of the mayoral election are in, but the election is not over. The campaigns continue for the
t
sion-making in Chicago’s mayoral election. There may be a par- ticular candidate who is your clear favorite but you know he or she doesn’t have a chance to make the top two. Do you vote with your heart and risk throwing away your vote, or do you vote for a less-favored candidate whom you believe
top two vote-getters, Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot. What does that mean for us, the voters? Certainly, a lot can be written on this subject based on individual views of the two left standing; however, that would require a separate article in and of itself.
FOP
Legal Report
has a real chance of making the runoff?
How the process works
DANIEL HERBERT
The unprecedented field of 14 candidates
has many wondering whether the current elec- tion system would be better served by ranked-choice
voting (RCV). RCV gives the voter the power to rank candidates from favorite to least favorite. On election night, all the ballots are counted for voters’ first choices. This process repeats and last- place candidates lose until one candidate reaches a majority and wins.
In our election, voter turnout was nothing short of abys- mal. Certainly, there could be numerous reasons why it was so low; however, it is likely that potential voters were simply over- whelmed by the sheer number of candidates. The dilemma faced was whether you should vote your heart, for the candidate with whom you most agree, or go with one of the candidates you don’t like, but at least like more than the person you fear has the best chance of winning. If so, who’s that candidate?
RCV, in which voters simply rank the candidates in order of preference, would have significantly smoothed the deci-
Instead of having to bet everything on one candidate withwhomyoumayhaveseriousproblemsbutstrategical- ly vote for to hedge against another candidate, with RCV, you pick who you like, and whoever else you like — or can tolerate — in descending order. If no one reaches a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is knocked out, and votes for them are re- distributed to whomever that voter ranked as second, and so on. The process continues until there’s a winner — why some call it
an “instant runoff.”
Other major cities like Oakland, Calif., Minneapolis, Cam-
bridge, Mass., and San Francisco recently have implemented an RCV system to great success, ridding their populations of the headache that so many Chicagoans just experienced.
First, it encourages voter turnout. A study of 79 elections in 26 American cities found that RCV was associated with a 10 percent increase in turnout, compared with non-RCV primary and runoff elections.
Second, and perhaps most importantly, it shifts incentives away from negative campaigning because candidates are trying
We can represent you for Estate Planning
We draft and review all documents necessary to create a thorough estate plan. We can help you with the planning tools, including:
• Durable powers of attorney • Power of attorney for finances to pay your bills if you are hospitalized • Power of attorney for health care or living wills • Last will and testament • Trust
It is important to note that you must have both a will and a trust to avoid the probate process.
The Herbert Law Firm Practice Areas
Employee Discrimination • Personal Injury • Disciplinary hearings • Criminal / DUI • Disability hearings • Civil Rights • Family Law & Divorce • Real Estate • Estate Planning
22 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MARCH 2019