•July 6, 2016•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

Only the Illinois Supreme Court stands between voters and the opportunity to strike back, constructively, at a state political system that has hung a huge pension albatross round our necks, brought us budget gridlock and, many think, has the state circling the drain.

The state election board has said the petition drive for a redistricting reform initiative has passed muster. The issue is now before the state courts as to whether the proposal is constitutional.

The 1970 state constitution provision for redistricting has not worked. The process has become highly political, with the party in power drawing lines to benefit incumbents.

[At present, for example, Democrats have majorities of three-fifths and two-thirds in the House and Senate, respectively, far higher than the typical split between the two major parties.]

The Independent Maps initiative has proposed a complicated process that would try to siphon off the partisan politics and give the job of drawing state legislative maps to an independent commission, rather than leave it with lawmakers.

[Independent commissions seem to be working effectively in Arizona and California.]

The provision in the Illinois Constitution that allows use of the citizen initiative for Legislative Article limits amendments to “structural and procedural” subjects.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.