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The Daily Northwestern Thursday, November 10, 2022

MIDTERMS COVERAGE 2022

Evanston to adopt ranked choice voting Referendum passes with flying colors, will start in 2025 By SAUL PINK and JACOB WENDLER

daily senior staffers @saullpink @jacob_wendler

Joanne Haner/Daily Senior Staffer

Beanie Feldstein. Feldstein was Hillel’s fall celebrity speaker, and she answered questions from NU students Wednesday.

Beanie Feldstein talks at Hillel event Actor discusses identity, friendship, community throughout her career By JACOB FULTON

daily senior staffer @jacobnfulton

For actor Beanie Feldstein, friendship is the “most

important thing” in her life, both on- and off-screen. Feldstein discussed how relationships with co-stars, directors and other colleagues have shaped her at Northwestern Hillel’s

Wednesday celebrity speaker event, which drew a crowd of about 300. Throughout the conversation, she also emphasized the importance of her identity as a queer Jewish woman and discussed her

wide-ranging resume. “My North Star has always been friendship,” Feldstein said. “Friendship has led me through my life and made me

» See BEANIE, page 10

Evanston voters decided overwhelmingly to replace the city’s “winner-take-all” voting system with ranked-choice voting Tuesday night. Proponents of the referendum say the change will lead to fairer elections and less acrimonious campaigns. The vote made Evanston the first municipality in Illinois to adopt the system. 82% of voters approved the measure with 98% of precincts reporting. The procedure will go into effect for the city’s spring 2025 mayoral, city clerk and City Council elections. In a ranked-choice voting system, voters rank candidates from highest to lowest preference, instead of voting for a single candidate. If a candidate wins 50% of the first-place votes, they win. If no candidate secures a majority, the individual with the fewest votes is eliminated and their voters’

second-choice candidates receive their first-place votes. The process continues in rounds until one candidate achieves a majority. “ We’re just so happy to see an overwhelmingly positive mandate from Evanston,” said Rebecca Ratliff, campaign manager for RCV for Evanston. Ahead of the election, RCV for Evanston organized local volunteers to phone-bank and canvas in favor of the referendum. Voters’ approval of the referendum swings Evanston away from its current system, in which the candidate with the most votes wins, even if they do not hold a majority. All other elections, including school board races and county elections, will continue to go to the candidate that receives the most votes. Mayor Daniel Biss is among many Evanston officials that encouraged residents to vote “yes” on the referendum. Biss has long advocated for ranked-choice voting: he introduced a 2017 bill as an Illinois state senator that would have enacted ranked-choice voting for state elections.

» See RANK CHOICE, page 10

Martin speaks at Evanston voters flock to the polls Amid controversial midterms, residents cast votes in state, federal races Northwestern ‘Game of Thrones’ author talks work, donation to NU By NICOLE MARKUS

daily senior staffer @nicolejmarkus

Author George R.R. Martin (Medill ’70, ’71) spoke about his time at Northwestern, “Game of Thrones” and his life in between at a Wednesday Medill event. Martin is the author of the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, which was later adapted into the acclaimed television shows “Game of Thrones” and “House of the Dragon.” “Few people in the last generation have had the cultural impact that (Martin) has had in books and in television,” University President Michael Schill said at the event. “In an age of fragmented audiences, George has been able to bend the popular imagination in his direction with timeless themes of human hope and struggle, told with unmatched vividness and power.” The Medill alum recently

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donated $5 million to create an intensive summer writing workshop and an endowed storytelling professorship at NU. Medill Dean Charles Whitaker, who moderated the conversation, expressed his appreciation for Martin’s contributions to his alma mater. “I can’t tell you how grateful we are that you’ve made this tremendous investment in storytelling in Medill and Northwestern,” Whitaker said. Martin said he started writing science fiction and fantasy during his childhood. His motivation for coming to NU stemmed from a desire to experience the world beyond the confines of his neighborhood, he said. At NU, Martin experienced a tumultuous time, including the Bursar’s Office Takeover in 1968. Throughout his collegiate career, Martin continued to practice storytelling. During a class on Scandinavian history, he asked the professor to write a fiction paper instead of the traditional research paper. His professor loved it so much

» See GEORGE, page 10

By SHANNON TYLER

daily senior staffer @shannonmtyler

Evanston voters showed up across the city’s polling locations Tuesday to exercise their civic duty, hold political candidates accountable and decide the country’s future. Voters said various Illinois issues drove them to the polls –– namely women’s reproductive rights at stake in Illinois Supreme Court elections, Evanston’s ranked-choice voting measure and the gubernatorial race. Jazmin Jones-Oliver, who is originally from Florida, voted in Evanston for the first time this midterm election. She said the most important thing for her was voting for future generations. “That’s how I cast my vote — what life do I want for my children and grandchildren? That’s who is really going to be impacted by the things we vote on today,” Oliver said. Evanston had early voting leading up to the election, lasting between Oct. 24 through

Jonah Elkowitz/Daily Senior Staffer

Evanston had 25 polling locations open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. this midterm election.

Nov. 7 at the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center. Today, 25 number polling locations were open from 6 a.m. to 7

p.m. including the Evanston Public Library, Noyes Cultural Center, Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center and

Oakton Elementary School. Evanston is a historically

» See VIBES, page 10