Skokie’s Village Board has debated for months whether to add to the Nov. 5 ballot two binding referendum questions that could change the village’s election code. Now, the village is moving forward with only one of them.
At its July 15 meeting, the Village Board rejected adding a question to the ballot that would have allowed the village to implement ranked-choice voting. The Board came to a consensus that it would wait for leadership from the state on how to implement it in the future. However, the Board decided to put to voters a term limits ballot question, which would limit how long elected officials can serve.
The ranked-choice voting question was written by Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins, an outside law firm hired by the village to implement previous election referendums. Scott Uhler, an attorney with Klein, Thorpe, and Jenkins, presented the question to the board at the previous board meeting and tweaked it to clarify its language when it was presented a second time.
Uhler said the state’s Ranked-Choice and Voting Systems Task Force was not going to make any recommendations for statewide changes to allow ranked-choice voting.
“The co-chair of the committee, State Sen. Laura Murphy (D) 28th, indicated at the last meeting of the task force that it is her belief that a change to the election code will be needed to implement a ranked-choice voting system in Illinois,” said Uhler. “Her ultimate conclusion, I believe, is that we will need a change to the Illinois election code in order to be able to implement this kind of system.”
“There were a number of county clerks that are sitting on this task force and are part of this effort as well,” Uhler added. “Their general consensus, as you can imagine, is that their legacy machinery and election equipment is not prepared or equipped to make this kind of change without significant additional resources.”
Trustee Ralph Klein said he called the Cook County Board of Elections office and spoke to a person who said ranked-choice voting was “at least 10 years away.” Klein did not disclose whom he spoke to from the office.
When Uhler was asked about when ranked-choice voting could be implemented, he said, “Our voting systems require resources, software, and money, and without those things in place, I don’t think we can simply assume that we’re prepared to implement a brand new voting system overnight without appropriate resources and logistics in place.”
“The task force has reached the conclusion that we would also need direction from the Illinois General Assembly,” Uhler said.
“So this 10-year number is not pie in the sky?” Klein asked Uhler.
“I would not say it’s pie in the sky,” Uhler responded.
Trustee Alison Pure Slovin, who is also a registered Illinois lobbyist, said she spoke to legislators and was also told that ranked-choice voting was at least 10 years away. “It’s not even on the horizon right now. It is not recognized by the state of Illinois… I think at this point if it is not something that is recognized by the state of Illinois as a legal way of voting, we need to be done with this,” she said.
Trustee James Johnson, who petitioned for ranked-choice voting and term limits to be on the Spring 2025 ballot in his unsuccessful effort a few months ago to be appointed Skokie clerk, disagreed that ranked choice voting was 10 years away, and said that the village could have ranked-choice voting ready by the time that the voting systems were updated.
Mayor George Van Dusen recommended that the Village Board not go forward with putting ranked-choice voting on the ballot just yet, and to wait for the state to give recommendations on how to implement it.
Johnson told Pioneer Press in a statement that he would continue to petition for ranked choice voting to appear on the ballot for the Spring 2025 election.
The term limits question, which could create three four-year term limits for all village elected positions if approved by voters, was swiftly passed by the board in a 4-2 vote. Klein and Johnson abstained from the vote and Trustee Keith Robinson was absent from the meeting. Johnson accused the rest of the Board of interfering with voter-led referendums when he abstained from the vote, saying, “I want no part of this.”
Evanston has passed a ranked-choice voting ordinance, with some officials there saying they hope its passage pushes the Cook County Clerk’s office to move forward to implement ranked-choice voting.
