IVI-IPO mourns the
loss of David Canter, one of IVI-IPO's founders
and a tireless community activist.
His memorial service will be held:
David
Canter at IVI-IPO's 60th
Independents' Day Dinner
July 19, 2004
ILLINOIS
PRIMARY ELECTION VOTE TOTALS Illinois
State Board of Elections official counts certified
April 17 for the election of March 16, 2004.
Candidate Primary Endorsements
Each
election cycle, IVI-IPO offers voters its "Good Government
Ticket" which can be used as a guide to election candidates
regardless of party who support progressive, responsible
government.
In
making endorsements, IVI-IPO follows a painstaking process
to ensure that it knows as much about the qualifications
and beliefs of candidates as possible. Each candidate is
invited to answer a probing and difficult questionnaire
and to attend an interview session with the membership to
answer further questions.
2004
Primary Endorsements Tabloid
[ADVERTISEMENT]
PAID FOR BY THE 2004 INDEPENDENT
CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE
Printing the tabloid listed above, requires tabloid-sized (11" x 17") paper.
You can print out just the IVI-IPO
sample ballot on regular letter-sized (8-1/2" x 11")
paper.
Information
on ordering a copy of IVI-IPO's 2004 A-Z Campaign Workshop Binder,
our A-Z Workshop advertisers' services and our 2004 Meet the Candidates
sponsors has moved and can now be accessed on the January
2004 events page.
Earlier Archived
Index: 2003 CHICAGO MUNICIPAL ENDORSEMENTS
|
Independence
Day 2004: Commentary
Cumulative Voting: an Illinois History
By Dan Johnson-Weinberger
IVI-IPO Membership Chair
134 years ago [it was a
Saturday on that July 2nd, 1870], Illinois voters approved
a new constitution that included three-member districts
in the state House of Representatives with cumulative
voting rights, so that each district would elect members
of both parties. As we begin our celebrations this weekend
of American independence from the tyranny of Great Britain's
monarchy, where colonists were not permitted to directly
elect any Members of Parliament that taxed and governed
their lives, we should renew our cause in the 21st century
to free all citizens from the tyranny of majority-only
representation, where political minorites are not permitted
to directly elect any Members of the Illinois General
Assembly that tax and govern our lives. Even the best
legislator can not represent all the people in her district.
It's impossible. She can only represent some of the
people. Everyone deserves a voice in our legislatures.
Not just the local majority. Everyone. We hold these
truths to be self-evident: that all men are created
equal. If we're all created equal, then we all deserve
representation. Not just some of us. All of us. Electing
three people from a larger district, and providing cumulative
voting rights so a minority of voters can elect one
of the representatives, means that more of us get a
voice in government. During the American Revolution,
it was conventional wisdom that public opinion was divided
this way: one-third of the people wanted American Independence,
one-third wanted to remain subjects to the English Crown
and one-third didn't care. That one-third minority of
the colonists changed the world. Let's change Illinois,
and with it, the nation. Let's represent everybody.
For more information on
cumulative voting, see the Midwest Democracy Center
website: www.midwestdemocracy.org/cv.html.
|
