On Tuesday, April 2nd, 12% of Peoria (a whopping 18.65% of registered voters) decided the five available At-Large seats for Peoria City Council. The winners: Dr. Rita Ali (24.88%), John “Growth™” Kelly (12.06%), Zach Oyler (11.85%), Beth Jensen (11.43%), and Sid Ruckriegel (11.26%). Just at the outset, millennial Andre W. Allen1 (10.63%) lost by a mere 408 votes, proving himself as a natural political contender in future local races. My own personal favorite, Peter Kobak, came in 7th with 7.74% of the vote– nearly 3,000 votes behind taking 5th from Ruckriegal.
Dr. Ali had this election in the bag before even the primary. Her tactic of bringing a posse to each candidate forum (15-20 of her supporters clearly wearing Vote Ali attire) should be copied by candidates in future elections. She carried nearly a quarter of all votes in the general and ran on the slogan “Put 5 on it”, encouraging her supporters, and specifically her supporters in the black community, to give her all 5 votes. This, of course, is because of Peoria’s peculiar way of voting for At-Large council members: cumulative voting. If five seats are available, then voters are allowed to vote for five candidates… or, give one candidate 5 votes.2
At one point, several commentators (myself included) suggested Dr. Ali supporters maybe only put two and a half on it, after she conquered the primaries. Had this occurred, Dr. Ali likely would have remained in the number one spot with 12.44%. If the other half of these votes were split equally between Allen and Kobak, they would be on City Council with 16.85% and 13.96% respectively. But, one can hardly blame Dr. Ali for getting on City Council with such a perspicacious presence. If anything, Dr. Ali schooled the other candidates on how to come correct when one is required to run using cumulative voting.
- Full disclosure: I have known Andre Allen since we were young lads. We both attended Woodrow Wilson Primary (now Dr. Maude Sanders Primary) and Sterling Middle School together in the same grade.
- The exact formula is vote for 1 candidate = that candidate receives 5 votes; 2=2.5 votes; 3=1.66 votes; 4=1.25 votes; 5=1
