Read coverage of our press conference in the Springfield Journal-Register. Highlights include:

Sangamon County Clerk Joe Aiello, who oversees the county’s election office, said he supports the idea.

Press Conference to feature Mayor Davlin, Reps. Boland and Froehlich and Sen. Frerichs

What: Press conference to promote Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) for military and overseas absentee voters.

Who: Mayor Davlin, Sen. Frerichs (sponsor of SB 439) and Reps. Boland and Froehlich (sponsors of HB 803). These bills would make it easier for municipalities to implement ranked ballot elections.

When: Thursday, March 1st at 10am

Where: Illinois State Library

Why: Many municipalities in Illinois are holding an election on Tuesday, February 27th, and many of the same municipalities will hold another election in April. While voting twice in six or seven weeks is a needless burden for many of us, it is an administrative impossibility for many of our servicemen and women overseas in the armed forces. There simply isn’t enough time between the February and April elections to determine the winners, print the April ballot, mail it overseas and have the overseas voter receive it, mark it and mail it back in time to be counted. The result: disenfranchisement.

Fortunately, we’re doing something about this problem. Following the lead of Louisiana, Arkansas and South Carolina, the City of Springfield has put a referendum on the ballot asking voters to implement IRV for overseas voters. With IRV, overseas voters no longer need to return a separate second ballot for the general election; instead, they rank candidates in order of preference on a ballot they return with their primary ballot. This ranked ballot is counted for the highest ranked candidate appearing on the general election ballot.

If approved this April, Springfield will be the first jurisdiction in Illinois to use a ranked ballot.

For more information, contact Dan Johnson-Weinberger at (312) 933-4890 or dan@progressivepublicaffairs.com

The Problem:

American citizens living abroad, including men and women in uniform, often face difficulties voting in elections at home. Due to the logistics of election administration, many overseas voters do not receive their ballots in time to return them and have them counted. Some cities and states have dealt with this by moving primaries earlier or runoffs later, but this only lengthens the election season.

The Solution: Instant Runoff Voting:

An Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) ballot ensures the election calendar will not present an obstacle to overseas ballots being counted. Here is how it works. Before the primary, the city of Springfield will send each overseas voter a standard primary ballot and a ranked choice general election ballot featuring all primary candidates. The voter will vote for one candidate on the primary ballot and have the option of ranking any number of candidates in their order of preference on the general election ballot.

Both ballots are returned together and the primary ballot is counted with all others on primary day. Instead of sending the voter a second ballot for the general election, however, election administrators will count the ranked choice general election ballot for the highest ranked candidate who advanced to the general election. Not only does this ensure an overseas voter’s ballot is counted in the general election, but it also saves city taxpayers the cost of an overseas mailing and avoids lengthening the election season.

IRV is used successfully for military and overseas voters in Louisiana, Arkansas and South Carolina. Other states are now exploring this model to protect voting rights at home for those living and serving abroad.

For more information about the use of IRV for military voters, visit FairVote.org.