Chicago Suntimes Op-ed:Change redistricting to put reform on the map
With Illinois paralyzed by gridlock and teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, many citizens are angry about what is happening in Illinois state government. They want change, but it never seems to happen.
I have heard those cries for reform and have suggested that if you can do one thing to change the political culture in Illinois, it’s changing legislative redistricting.
What is redistricting? Every 10 years, the United States conducts a federal census, which is the official count of how many citizens live in our country and where they live. After the new census figures are reported, Illinois is required to redraw the boundaries of legislative districts to rebalance population equally among the districts. This process is known as “redistricting.”
For the past 40 years, a few powerful Illinois state legislators have created districts that ensure their re-election by drawing their own legislative boundaries behind closed doors. The result is that 98 percent of the elections for the Illinois State Legislature are won by the incumbent. The Legislature could create more competition and bring about fair elections, but they haven’t — and they won’t. There are powerful interests who do not want to see this happen.
It is time to change redistricting in Illinois and give control of this important process to an independent group of citizens who have Illinois’ best interest in mind, not those of the state Legislature. The Illinois League of Women Voters, the Better Government Association, the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, Pat Collins of the Illinois Reform Commission and reform-minded organizations are spearheading a petition drive aimed at placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot to change legislative redistricting in our state. The petitions must be signed by at least 400,000 Illinois citizens and filed by May 1 to be on the November ballot.
The Illinois Fair Map Amendment would place redistricting in the hands of an independent commission guided by an established set of criteria to promote competition and protect minority voting rights. The proposal requires public hearings and public display of proposed maps and allows for submission of maps by the general public. The proposal bans the use of incumbent addresses and voting history in the initial mapmaking process. It also allows for the appointment of an independent “special master” to provide for a fair, unbiased resolution of redistricting in case of a stalemate and eliminates the provision of drawing a name out of a hat to resolve the process.
I join the many reform and good-government groups in supporting the Illinois Fair Map Amendment.
If there is only one thing you can do to change the highly political culture in Illinois — this is it. I urge you to circulate and sign a petition to get this issue on the November ballot. For more information and to obtain a petition, go to ilfairmap.com, or contact the Illinois League of Women Voters at (312) 939-5935.
Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross is a Republican from Oswego.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1982176,CST-EDT-open10c.article