Coming Soon to a Government Near You: Redistricting

PEORIA -- The coalition of good government groups, led by the Illinois League of Women Voters, failed last spring to get a Fair Map Amendment on the Nov. 2 Illinois ballot.  But the issue is far from dead.

The Illinois General Assembly and local governments such as county boards and cities will be redistricting next spring, as soon as US Census figures are certified.  And the League will be watching the process and pressuring legislators to do the right thing.

The Illinois League's Mary Schaafsma, its Redistricting Project Manager, spoke to the Greater Peoria League on Nov. 20 about the redistricting process.  The League supports an open and transparent process that avoid partisan deadlock and keeps communities of interest intact, she said.

Despite a few Republican victories on Nov. 2, Illinois remains a Democratic Party state, she said.

Ninety percent of the Illinois Senate districts and 86 percent of the Illinois House districts had no contests, showing they may be gerrymandered to favor one party or the other.

When that happens, elected officials are less responsive to the voters, and partisan gridlock and even corruption become more likely, she said.  Voters become turned off.  Illinois is 29th of all states in voter turnout.

The General Assembly redistricts itself and the Congressional districts, she said.

Previously the General Assembly allowed Congress members to set up their own districts, but that's unlikely this year, because Republicans made gains in Congress.  So Democrats in the General Assembly will likely control that process, she predicted. "The Democratic Party will be more involved. They have more to lose in two years."

This year there likely will be 750,000 voters in each Congressional district, she said. Illinois could lose one or two seats, because of population shifts to the sunbelt.

The map deadline for the General Assembly is June 30, 2011.

Local boards also will redistrict. League members and citizens can find out the process and monitor it, she said. Peoria League members at the meeting are planning to follow through on this advice.

The Illinois League is discussing whether to pursue another Fair Map Ammendment project, which would affect the way the General Assembly is redistricted in 2021. It may tweek its original proposal to thwart objections, she said.

A similar amendment passed in Florida on Nov. 2, but took four years to build at a cost of $30 million. (But see correction below.)

The League's plan failed in Illinois when it lacked enough signatures to be placed on the ballot. The project ran out of time, and had little funding. It was opposed by Democrats who feared a loss of voters.

Other good government measures needed, she said, are campaign finance reform, stronger ethics rules and better civics education in schools.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

11/20/10 E-mailed comment:

Hi. Just to set the record straight, the Florida
effort took $9 million -- not 30! 
And $4 million of that was to gather the 
requisite 1.7 million signatures.
Thanks for the mention though. 
Happy to provide more info if you wish.
Ellen Freidin
Campaign Chair
FairDistrictsFlorida.org

 

 

Comments

[C. J. Summers]

If the League wants fairer redistricting so badly, why did they not support efforts to have a Constitutional Convention? That would have been the best opportunity to have real reform, but the League actively opposed it.

[Steve Waterworth]

Thanks to the U.S Supreme courts ruling letting corporations spend unlimited amounts of money supporting candidates, if the districts are drawn so that Democrats equal Republicans in a district the corporations will decide who wins. And that's what the Fair Map Ammendment is about. Giving more power to corporations who will invariably support Republicans.