Another Attempt to Reapportion More Neutrally

An organization called “Independent Map Amendment” has raised its head.

This is the third time a group has tried to pass a Constitutional Amendment to change the reapportionment process.

The last time this was tried, the organizers were not politically adept enough to ask those who would benefit most, that is, the Republican Party.

Locally, the only people I saw gathering signatures were members of the McHenry County Leagur of Women Voters. That was at a candidates’ forum.

Here is what this year’s organization is saying:

The system in Illinois is not working. Instead of putting the people’s interests first, state legislative district boundaries are drawn intentionally to preserve and to strengthen the power of those already in power…

The system in Illinois is not working. Instead of putting the people’s interests first, state legislative district boundaries are drawn intentionally to preserve and to strengthen the power of those already in power…

This link is given for the petition:

DOWNLOAD the Independent Map Amendment petition

Here’s the group’s explanation of the proposal:

Indpendent Map Amendment logo

THE INDEPENDENT MAP AMENDMENT EXPLAINED

The Independent Map Amendment would establish a non-partisan, independent commission responsible for drawing state legislative districts in a way that is transparent and open to the public.

It would end the current redistricting process controlled by legislators with little public involvement. The 11 members of the Independent Redistricting Commission would be selected in the year of each federal decennial census. The first commission would be appointed in 2021.

STEPS TO SELECTION OF COMMISSION MEMBERS

An Applicant Review Panel would be created to review applications of people wishing to serve on the Independent Redistricting Commission.

Anyone interested in serving on the Applicant Review Panel could submit an application to the Illinois Auditor General.

The three-member panel would be chosen at random from a pool of registered voters who have a “demonstrated understanding of and adherence to standards of ethical conduct.”

Anyone interested in serving on the Commission could submit an application to the Illinois Auditor General.

The Applicant Review Panel would select a pool of 100 potential Commissioners, who would be diverse and free from conflicts of interest.

Each potential Commissioner would be reviewed to determine prior political experience, relevant analytical skills, ability to contribute to a fair redistricting process and ability to represent the demographic and geographic diversity of Illinois.

The names of the 100 potential Commissioners and information about their backgrounds would be made available to the public.

The four leaders of the Illinois House and Senate – two Democrats and two Republicans – each would be allowed to remove up to five of the potential Commissioners in the pool of 100.

The Applicant Review Panel would select seven Commissioners in a public and random drawing.

No more than two of the seven Commissioners could be affiliated with the same political party.

The four legislative leaders would select the final four Commissioners from the remaining pool and make the selections based on the appointee’s contribution to the demographic and geographic diversity of the Commission.

COMMISSION TRANSPARENCY AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The public would be notified of Commission meetings at least seven days in advance.

All meetings and records, including communications between members about Commission work, would be public.

The only exception would be meetings and records that qualify under attorney-client privilege.

The Commission would hold public hearings throughout Illinois before and after releasing the initial proposed redistricting plan.

THE COMMISSION’S INSTRUCTIONS FOR DRAWING LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS

The Commission would be required to draw legislative district maps that comply with federal law and are contiguous and equal in population.

In drawing the maps, the Commission must use the following criteria:

  1. The redistricting plan shall not dilute or diminish the ability of a racial or language minority community to elect the candidates of its choice, including when voting in concert with other persons;
  2. The redistricting plan shall respect the geographic integrity of units of local government; and
  3. The redistricting plan shall respect the geographic integrity of communities sharing common social and economic interests, which do not include relationships with political parties or candidates for office.
Three state senate and state representative districts meet in Crystal Lake.

Three state senate and state representative districts meet in Crystal Lake.  One might observe that the geographic integrity of Crystal Lake was not maintained in the may the Democrats crafted.

The redistricting plan shall not either intentionally or unduly discriminate against or intentionally or unduly favor any political party, political group or particular person.

In designing the redistricting plan, the Commission shall consider party registration and voting history data only to assess compliance with the above requirements.

HOW A MAP BECOMES LAW

Approval of a redistricting plan would require seven affirmative votes and would have to include the affirmative vote of at least two Democrats, two Republicans, and three not affiliated with either of those parties.

If the Commission failed to adopt a redistricting plan by June 30, a Special Commissioner for Redistricting would be appointed by the Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court and the most senior Supreme Court justice from the other major party.

The Special Commissioner for Redistricting would be required to hold public hearings and create a redistricting plan following the same criteria and public transparency requirements established for the Commission.

The redistricting plan adopted by the Special Commissioner for Redistricting would be filed with the Secretary of State no later than Aug. 31, and those district maps would become law and in effect for the next election of General Assembly members.


Comments

Another Attempt to Reapportion More Neutrally — 8 Comments

  1. A computer should be programmed by people with no interest in politics in this country, say programmers from India, to draw up the voting districts every 10 years.

    The voting district should be shaped like boxes, with consideration for local borders, geographical features, and population.

    No consideration for past voting habits, race, sex, religion or any of the other political nonsense.

    There are no truly unbiased people, we all Americans and equal.

    we should start acting like it.

  2. This organization has some big names.

    Chair: Dennis FitzSimons, Chairman of the Robert R. McCormick Foundation and a former Chairman and CEO of Tribune Company.

    Lester Crown, Bill Daley, Jim Edgar, Harrison Steans, plenty more.

    Gathering petition signatures would be a good activity for Kara Hamilton’s team.

    She’s the Turning Point USA Field Director for McHenry County.
    http://www.turningpointusa.net
    http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2015/04/13/conservative-youth-group-hires-kara-hamilton-as-organizer

  3. I agree a computer should randomly select the districts with them mostly being square or rectangle.

    I don’t trust any committee especially one with business and religious interests dividing up the map.

  4. The petition MUST be printed 2 sided.

    The 10 petition signatures go on the front side.

    The amendment is explained on the other side.

  5. Here are some more people in the Independent Map Amendment group.

    – Ruth Greenwood, Staff Attorney, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

    – Deborah Harrington, former President, Woods Fund of Chicago

    – Christie Hefner, a Director, Center for American Progress Fund

    – Mary Kubasak, President, League of Women Voters of Illinois

    – Brad McMillan, Executive Director, Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service, Bradley University

    – Sylvia Puente, Executive Director, Latino Policy Forum

    http://www.mapamendment.org/About.html

  6. I don’t understand how system will produce a 7 member panel, 2 from affiliated with a party and 3 allegedly independent voters

    Am I correct that the 4 leaders of the house will eliminate 40 of the initial 100 members of the commission.

    what is the definition of term “affiliated with a party”?

    If there is going to be random drawing from remaining pool of potential commissioners how will selection procedure be done to guaranteed that you will have no more than two members from a political party and 3 other independents>

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *