2008 Woodie Awards
Illini Media
WPGU
buzz
Illio
TechnographUrbana rejects runoff voting referendum
By Eric Heisig
Posted: 7/1/08 Section: News
The people of Cunningham township voted against placing a referendum on the November ballot regarding instant runoff voting in Urbana Monday night.
The advisory referendum, if passed, would have asked voters if they thought the Urbana City Council should place a binding referendum on the ballot to change the voting method.
During the meeting, many citizens came forward on both sides of the issue.
"How anti-democratic it would be for the small group of us here tonight to deny Urbana citizens at large that chance to vote," said Urbana resident Gary Storm, arguing that the citizens present only represented a small percentage of Urbana's population.
Still, some on the other side said that the system, which requires voters to list candidates in order of preference, is too confusing for many voters.
"It's frustrating to know if you actually did it right," said resident Carla Tucker.
Ward 1 Council member Charlie Smyth said other cities who have used this type of voting have indicated it can be confusing with their exit polls.
"It is like Florida and the butterfly ballot," Smyth said. "If it weren't for that, Al Gore would have been president, and probably still be president today."
This is not the first time that instant runoff voting has been voted down at town meeting. It was voted down at the annual town meeting in April as well.
Still, the 43-98 vote has not deterred those who are in favor of instant runoff voting, and Urbana resident Wayne Johnson said the next step for them is to collect signatures on a petition to put it on the ballot.
"I think this indicates how much education is necessary, to show what is meant by grass roots participatory democracy," Johnson said.
The advisory referendum, if passed, would have asked voters if they thought the Urbana City Council should place a binding referendum on the ballot to change the voting method.
During the meeting, many citizens came forward on both sides of the issue.
"How anti-democratic it would be for the small group of us here tonight to deny Urbana citizens at large that chance to vote," said Urbana resident Gary Storm, arguing that the citizens present only represented a small percentage of Urbana's population.
Still, some on the other side said that the system, which requires voters to list candidates in order of preference, is too confusing for many voters.
"It's frustrating to know if you actually did it right," said resident Carla Tucker.
Ward 1 Council member Charlie Smyth said other cities who have used this type of voting have indicated it can be confusing with their exit polls.
"It is like Florida and the butterfly ballot," Smyth said. "If it weren't for that, Al Gore would have been president, and probably still be president today."
This is not the first time that instant runoff voting has been voted down at town meeting. It was voted down at the annual town meeting in April as well.
Still, the 43-98 vote has not deterred those who are in favor of instant runoff voting, and Urbana resident Wayne Johnson said the next step for them is to collect signatures on a petition to put it on the ballot.
"I think this indicates how much education is necessary, to show what is meant by grass roots participatory democracy," Johnson said.
The Daily Illini encourages on-topic discussion through article commenting on its articles and blogs. It is our policy not to delete any comments based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.
The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Comments containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from commenting on DailyIllini.com.
If you feel any post meets these conditions or merits review, please e-mail our editors at meonline@dailyillini.com.
Be the first to comment on this story