This is the Illinois Citizens for Proportional Representation monthly newsletter. Our main goal is to bring back cumulative voting, used from 1870-1980 in the Illinois House of Representatives. If you'd like to get off this monthly list, or get on a biweekly list, please reply with a small note. The peace agreement in Northern Ireland to be voted on May 22 depends on proportional voting for the new Assembly.
History has a way of repeating itself.
To mend fences after the Irish civil war, smart leaders are looking to set up a proportional voting system so political minorities won't be shut out of the government. After the American civil war, smart leaders in Illinois in 1870 set up a cumulative voting system, with three-member districts that gave political minorities a chance to elect a representative. We in Illinois have the best chance of any state in the Union to advance the cause. This is the season for annual corporate meetings, and many of them use cumulative voting to elect the Board of Directors. Abbott Labs, Hewlett-Packard, Toys R Us and Walgreen's are some major corporations that allow their shareholders to use cumulative voting.