The Illinois General Assembly should consider adopting a runoff election system for primaries. Ten other states have runoff rules in place for when a candidate fails to secure a majority of votes in a primary. Policy discussions would be more compelling and issues-driven in the shorter campaign period between the first election and the runoff. As a Democratic voter, researching and comparing the various policy points of eight different attorney general candidates felt like a struggle.
Similarly, allowing a billionaire candidate to buy seemingly endless TV time a year before the election left the other candidates fighting for scraps in the governor’s race. Serious campaign finance reform must be passed to prevent this auction of an election from happening again.
We need a new primary system in place to ensure that Illinois’ elected officials will be accountable to the people.
— John Gargiulo, Chicago
