The Chicago City Council is considering new election reforms that supporters say could increase voter access and turnout while also reducing how much taxpayer funds go toward elections each year.

During an informational hearing conducted by the council’s Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight on Tuesday, representatives of nonpartisan organizations and the city’s Board of Elections presented ways the city could run its elections more efficiently, effectively and affordably.

One method that is becoming increasingly used across the country is the implementation of ranked choice voting.

Dan Ashurst, the executive director of FairVote Illinois, said the idea of implementing the new ballot system would allow the city to reduce its spending on runoff elections.

“Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference instead of picking just one. If your First choice can’t win, your vote may count for your second or third choice instead,” Ashurst said. “Ranked choice voting would save money for the city of Chicago.”

In the most recent Chicago mayoral runoff, the city spent a total of $19.8 million for the extra election.

Ashurst said implementing a ranked-choice system would eliminate the need for a runoff in such cases because voters can choose multiple candidates that they prefer, and the board of elections would then have the needed information to eliminate candidates with smaller shares of the vote.

Ellison Radek, a policy fellow with nonprofit Chicago Votes, spoke about the organization’s proposal for mobile polling stations – a policy that would cost the city to implement.

“This mobile voting location would serve as a universal polling location, meaning that any resident in the city of Chicago would be able to vote there,” Radek said.

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