As political division and mistrust surfaced again this inauguration week for Americans, some suburbs and Illinois towns are looking to put into action a system that proponents hope can boost fairness and increase trust in the election process: ranked choice voting. Evanston, Skokie, Oak Park, Naperville, Berwyn and downstate Peoria have favored or are exploring the concept, with voters in Evanston and Oak Park overwhelmingly approving it at the polls. While proponents hope voters in Evanston and Oak Park, or possibly other locales, will walk into voting booths as early as 2026 or 2027 and choose their candidates from a ranked choice voting ballot, their enthusiasm is facing headwinds. The Cook County clerk’s office, which runs elections in the county’s suburbs, has thrown a wrench into Evanston’s plans, leading to a court battle that is still pending. Meanwhile, a state task force commissioned by Gov. JB Pritzker to explore ranked choice voting is lagging months behind in mapping out a potential transition to how ranked choice voting would work in the next presidential primary. Evanston has been eager to initiate ranked choice voting, but the Cook County clerk’s office says the state must first pass a law enabling it. Because of Cook County’s hesitation, it’s possible Naperville, which straddles DuPage and Will counties, could be the first in Illinois to start ranked choice voting elections, though no one yet knows when. Though it’s untried in Illinois, ranked choice voting exists elsewhere in the country and it works by voters ranking candidates in the order they prefer. If one candidate is the first choice of more than 50% of voters in the first round of counting, that person is the winner. But if no candidate surpasses 50%, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters who chose that candidate as their top pick have their votes redistributed to their next choice. This process continues, with the candidate who gets the fewest votes being eliminated until someone emerges with a majority. Ranked choice adopted in pockets across nation Boosters say ranked choice voting increases the electorate’s choices, tamps down on negative campaigning, promotes coalition building among like-minded candidates and potentially saves money by eliminating the need for runoff elections. It also cuts down on so-called wasted votes when voters cast ballots for candidates who later drop out, a reason why ranked choice is in place for certain military and overseas voters. While still relatively rare across the country, ranked choice has been adopted by cities in more conservative-leaning states such as Utah and Alaska as well as liberal states and cities such as Maine, New York City and Portland, Oregon. Efforts to implement it nationally have been met with mixed results. But it gained enough steam in Illinois that Pritzker in August 2023 created the task force. Its job was to explore ranked choice’s viability for the state’s presidential primary elections, potentially as soon as 2028. Gov. JB Pritzker speaks at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition’s annual Dr. King Breakfast celebrating the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the United Club in Soldier Field on Jan. 20, 2025. (Audrey Richardson/Chicago Tribune) The task force’s report, which might be released this month, won’t advocate for or against ranked choice voting. Instead, it will report on how to implement such a system for the 2028 presidential primary, said task force co-chair state Sen. Laura Murphy, a Democrat from Des Plaines. The group was tasked with assessing what would need to change in the state’s election code, the kind of election software or machines that would be needed and whether county officials could accommodate the switch. But Murphy said the report won’t directly help cities or towns execute ranked choice voting in their municipal elections. Critics of ranked choice voting have said it can be confusing and deter voters from participating.  Also, vote counting can take longer, which could fuel skepticism of the electoral process and not help it, the critics have said. Party politics also plays a role. Partisans have fought it because they’ve mastered how to campaign effectively in a traditional election. A switch to ranked choice would upend most processes that traditional political machines have mastered — from slating to ad-making to the way candidates sell themselves to the public. While ranked choice has gained interest nationally, party pushback — Republican and Democrat alike — has followed. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have expanded ranked choice in local elections in California in 2019. Former Gov. Sarah Palin, a Republican, lost in a three-way race for one of Alaska’s congressional seats, prompting President Donald Trump to describe ranked choice as a “total rigged deal.” Ranked choice narrowly survived an attempt in Alaska for its repeal, but five other states shot down ranked choice efforts in November’s elections. Evanston efforts hit Cook County wall Illinois proponents have been pushing hard to realize ranked choice voting here. Reform for Illinois, an advocacy group, led a successful campaign to adopt ranked choice voting in Evanston: 82% of voters in the November 2022 election voted yes on a referendum question on the issue. Volunteer Gordon Green meets outside the Democratic Party of Evanston office before driving to Milwaukee to knock on doors as part of Operation Swing State to help get out the vote for Vice President Kamala Harris on Oct. 19, 2024. (Tess Crowley/Chicago Tribune) But since then, preliminary discussions between Evanston city leaders, Reform for Illinois, and the Cook County clerk have stalled. After the death of Clerk Karen Yarbrough last year, David Melton, Reform for Illinois’ board president, said talks with her interim replacement, Cedric Giles, “got nowhere” and the organization’s “patience ran out.” This past June, the Evanston City Council passed an ordinance establishing ranked choice as the voting method for local elections. The next month, Reform for Illinois sued to force the county clerk to implement it. Mike Kasper, who had worked for years as an attorney for the state’s Democratic Party and dozens of Democratic elected officials on election-related challenges, represented the county. He argued several steps were needed before ranked choice voting could launch locally, and that the county clerk could not initiate any of them. State lawmakers must first authorize ranked choice and establish parameters for its use, he said. Then the Illinois State Board of Elections must create standards based on those parameters, followed by the state’s election vendor, Dominion Voting Systems, submitting its equipment and software to the board for approval. Judge Maureen Ward Kirby sided with the county in November. Newly elected Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon declined to be interviewed, but a spokeswoman suggested Gordon would stay the course in court. Asked whether Gordon would advocate for the state to allow ranked choice voting, Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for Gordon, said in an email: “Ranked choice voting is not currently provided for under the Illinois Election Code and is not legally allowed. Implementation would require legislation to be drafted and signed into law.” Reform for Illinois is appealing the ruling. The group’s attorney, Ed Mullen, said the organization had confidence in its case, in part because former state Attorney General Lisa Madigan issued a memo in 2005 saying municipalities with “home rule” jurisdiction could implement ranked voting. Evanston, Oak Park and Naperville are home rule communities. Evanston organizers originally intended for ranked choice voting to be in force at polling places for this spring’s elections — a primary Feb. 25 and a general election April 1 — but now there is no hope to have implementation in time to allow that, Mullen said last month. Oak Park watching Evanston, aims for 2027 With a watchful eye on how that legal fight plays out, other municipalities are moving ahead with their ranked choice campaigns. In November’s general election, voters in Oak Park overwhelmingly supported, through a binding referendum, converting the village’s local elections to ranked choice. The approved measure — backed by more than 79% of voters — prescribed that Oak Park would make the switch in time for its April 2027 consolidated election. Those behind Oak Park’s ranked choice campaign are still intent on seeing that timeline reached despite the legal battle blocking Evanston’s efforts. “It’s frustrating, but it is not a deterrent for us,” said Rebecca Williams, a statewide organizer for FairVote Illinois, an electoral reform organization that drove campaign efforts alongside Oak Park-based civic organization VOICE, the League of Women Voters Oak Park and River Forest. Mark Collins, 59, keeps a ranked choice voting stickers on his jacket on Oct. 29, 2022 in Evanston. (Michael Blackshire/Chicago Tribune) Organizers are keeping an eye on what happens in Evanston “before we figure out what, if any, next moves are necessary,” Williams said. There is time to see how the appeal plays out without impeding implementation by 2027 in Oak Park, she said. Still, organizers are cognizant Oak Park, like Evanston, could — and likely will — face pushback from the county clerk. FairVote is prepared to continue its efforts. “If we get shot down (and) the court keeps shooting it down, we’re still going to keep fighting it,” said Abigail Drumm, a policy lead for FairVote. If it ends up that legislative changes are needed to move the needle, “then we’re gonna fight to get the law changed,” Drumm said. Alternatively, FairVote is also focused on rallying as much support for ranked choice as it can in the hopes it can pressure elected officials into acting. Bruce Lehman, a longtime Oak Park resident and member of VOICE, said, “We just think that it’s important to demonstrate how much interest there is and how much support there is in ranked choice voting.” Referendum on the horizon in Naperville While Oak Park awaits next steps, a campaign to bring ranked choice to the ballot in Naperville is ongoing — though at a slower pace than organizers had hoped. FairVote began pushing for electoral reform in Naperville during the March 2024 primary. Organizers had planned to get a referendum on the ballot for Naperville’s 2025 municipal election but they’ve since decided they need more time to educate voters and drum up support. Proponents are now aiming to bring a ranked choice referendum to the city’s ballot by 2026. Should ranked choice ever get the go-ahead from Naperville voters, county officials would implement the change, they say. Because Naperville’s city boundaries stretch into DuPage and Will counties, implementing a new electoral process would take work from both county clerks’ offices, according to Naperville City Clerk Dawn Portner. Asked whether her office would work with Naperville to implement ranked choice voting in the city if voters approve it, Will County Clerk Annette Parker said, “Of course we would,” though Parker said her office is not actively preparing for that possibility. “We would do what we needed to do to make it happen, for sure, we would not deny anybody if that’s what they wanted to do,” she said. The DuPage County clerk’s office, meanwhile, is ready if and when the time comes, Clerk Jean Kaczmarek said. Her office does not have a position on ranked choice, she said, noting the matter is up to individual municipalities. “The policy decisions are out of our hands,” Deputy Clerk Adam Johnson added. “We (aren’t) … advising on the underlying question. We’re just trying to prepare for whatever we have to implement depending on how things play out.” On whether they share the concerns with implementing ranked choice that have driven the Cook County Clerk’s Office to court, Kaczmarek said, “While we definitely can empathize with Cook County on that, it is something that is brand new, and I think that we would be OK.” That’s not to say that implementation would be easy, she said. It would require significant county staff time and effort to see through. But as far as capability, “we could do it,” Kaczmarek said. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]