The April 17th referendum to implement ranked ballots for overseas absentee voters in Springfield elections won with over 91% of the vote (election results from the Springfield Journal-Register are here ). This is the first use of ranked ballots in Illinois and a big victory for military and overseas voters.

Other cities may soon have the opportunity to follow Springfield’s lead. SB 439, introduced by Senator Michael Frerichs, would allow municipalities to implement ranked ballots for overseas voters by ordinance instead of through the referendum process.

On a related note, the California Assembly Elections Committee approved AB 1662, which authorizes the use of IRV for overseas absentee voters in runoff elections, and AB 1294, which lets cities and counties use IRV for local elections. Richard Winger has more details on both bills at Ballot Access News .