Reform is about empowering people to build a more equitable society. We believe the key to achieving such reform is advancing transparency and integrity in government and holding officeholders accountable.

To do this, we focus on developing these following solutions through legislative initiatives, taking court action and/or working to inform the media and public.

Campaign Finance Reform

• Money can be corrosive to our politics. More than ever in Illinois history, the significant sums that are now needed to run for office limit the number of potential candidates, stifling a diversity of ideas and a thorough debate. The current system allows those with the most money to buy an outsized voice in our elections.
  • We support sensible campaign contribution limits.
  • We support the full public disclosure of all campaign donations and political spending so that voters know who is funding their campaigns.
  • We support other innovative mechanisms to limit the outsized role of wealthy interests and reduce barriers to running for public office, including the public funding of campaigns.

Learn More About Campaign Finance

Improving Turnout

• We strongly oppose any barriers to voting and we advocate for improved access to voting through early voting and any other means to increase participation while maintaining election integrity.
• To assess voting behavior in Illinois, we released the Illinois Voter Project, a comprehensive profile on how Illinois votes, including age and gender as well as data on both active and eligible (but unregistered) voters.

Government Integrity

• We support the full disclosure of lobbyist activities so that the public knows who they work for and who they are trying to influence. We also back strict limits on what lobbyist can give lawmakers and policymakers.
• We want to remove politics from how legislative districts are drawn to eliminate gerrymandering that protects incumbents and benefits a particular political party.
• We support strong open records laws — often called Freedom of Information laws — that make it easy for any citizen to gain access to any government record.
• We support strong anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies and training. We also encourage diverse hiring and contracting practices.
• The people’s money should be spent wisely. We push for clear and transparent contracting rules that get the best product for the lowest cost.