In an effort to be more inclusive in regards to gender in the Democratic State Central Committeeperson’s race I think they have unfortunately made this EXTREMELY confusing on the ballot for ALL the voters of Illinois.
The Democratic State Central Committeeperson is ONE Female and One Male ONLY for EACH Congressional District in Illinois. They are your representation to the Illinois Democratic STATE PARTY. It is a very powerful political position because they determine the Chair of the Illinois State Democratic Party.
They used to appear on the ballot separately by gender; however, now they are included all together, and the voter is told to simply “vote for no more than two” You can NOT vote for Two Females or Two Males. You MUST select one from each gender. That is the State Law for this race. In the past they were separated on your ballot by gender.
Telling voters to “vote for no more than two” is where the confusion comes in, misleads voters, and will render their votes INVALID in this race if they select two candidates of the same gender which is very likely to happen. Then neither candidate will get that vote.
I get what they are trying to do here in this race; however, this is not inclusive anyway because I believe you have to register as one gender or the other in this race. Only one person from each gender with the top votes can win.
Now that I have confused myself with this post, I truly hope this helps make sense of your ballots in Illinois and you know to vote for ONE FEMALE AND ONE MALE in this race. 🤪
(In the event a Non- Binary candidate runs, only then do the top two candidates with the most votes win. I am unaware of such candidate at this time on the Illinois ballot in either party. It is unclear how that will work exactly.)
