This morning the League of Women Voters put out a statement that canvassers were going door to door to collect signatures to place a binding referenda on the November ballot which would forever change Naperville politics, namely changing Naperville elections to be determined by ranked choice voting as opposed to the traditional one person, one vote approach used since Naperville’s inception.
Nevermind the fact that ranked choice voting has been a colossal failure where ever it’s been employed. So much so that many States have outright banned it. Additional States that have passed it are now seeing efforts undertaken to undo it. It’s confusing, open to being gamed, and leads to ballots being tossed out.
Sadly, the “League” is pushing this even as they roll out feigned discussions disingenuously vetting the concept. Progressive activist groups have decided that ranked choice voting gives their candidates an advantage so – as usual – the League of Women Voters is out there doing their bidding.
Just as Paul Revere frantically warned Bostonians that the British were coming, the Watchdog warns Naperville residents that the League of Women Voters are coming. This initiative will exponentially increase election integrity concerns and voter confusion. Could there be a worse time to grow such concerns?
Please decline signing this petition!
Thanks for sharing. Ranked Choice voting is not good. Hopefully this goes nowhere fast!!
Just another way for Democrats to fix elections.
Rank Choice Voting is not failing. I challenge you to name one city, county or state were it has failed to deliver as promised.
Yes, some jurisdiction have banned Rank Choice Voting and it is not surprising that these jurisdictions are heavily controlled by conservatives. Rank Choice Voting dilutes party influence in elections and considering the challenges conservative are currently facing with influencing elections it is hardly surprising they fear yet another such challenge.
As to movements to undo Rank Choice Voting, again this is not surprising that these efforts are being pushed by conservatives. Lets not forget that when city council districts were first put on the ballet, and voted in, it was targeted by conservative that saw it as a challenge to their influence on council (7 out of 9 city council seats were held by predominately conservative North Naperville residents, shifting to districts would have guaranteed at least two council seats to southern residents who were consider liberals). It was also these same conservatives that pushed the confusing negatively stated ballot proposal that stop districts in Naperville (ironically it is now conservatives that are pushing for districts because they see them now as beneficial to increased conservative influence on city council – stopping increasing south side membership).
Rank Choice Voting most hurts political parties that rely on misinformation, negative campaigning, divisiveness and fearmongering to win elections. These are the very things voters complain most about every elections and are the reason given by a lot of voters for why they have become disenfranchised with our election system. The fatigue and stress cause by these type of election tactics, that encourage focus on discussions of parties and party loyalty, over discussion of election issues and loyalty to individual beliefs, ethics and morals, demotivate and thus indirectly suppresses voter turnout. There is no denying that Rank Choice Voting increases voter turnout and engagement.
It is also not surprising that conservative have increasingly targeted the Naperville League of Women Voters, which encourages truly non-partisan city elections, that focuses on issues and how they will impact our city over discussing of parties, party politics and party loyalty.
I’m signing this petition as are many others! Look forward to it getting passed.
Ranked choice. Governance by popularity contest and focus group. So instead of representatives who might be counted on to have familiarity with the various constituencies that they are supposed to be representing, we should rank them according who can cook the results the best. Then our elections will be based on choosing between the first and second place losers. Good way to make sure that we get the least competent leadership we could hope for, but at least they will be popular, because they can make all kinds of promises. Let’s just jump to the natural conclusion to this thinking and switch over to the Soviet model and a dictatorship of the most popular kids in school. The League of Women Voters is playing with a very dangerous toy here, and they should not be surprised when this blows up in their faces. The League of Women Voters has enjoyed hiding in the shadows for their partisan agitation in the past, but it is time for this to come to an end. Stop the Disenfranchisement. Stop the Fraud. Stop The Ranking.