As Primary election day approaches in Illinois, one group that is attempting to reform Congressional maps is looking to see their agenda become a reality. Independent Map Amendment, the group leading the charge to change the way maps are drawn in Illinois, is using the last few days before the March 15 Primary to build on its success.
The group needed to collect slightly more than 290,000 valid signatures. The group reached that benchmark months ago. However, last year, Chairman Dennis FitzSimons said:
“To be absolutely certain we will meet the Illinois Constitution’s requirement of 290,216 valid signatures, we’re going to collect more than twice that number. Defenders of the current partisan system will not be able to overcome those numbers.”
The reason to collect an excessive number of signatures is driven by the expectation it will be challenged by the political class. In 2014, longtime Speaker of the House, Michael Madigan, led a legal effort to maintain the partisan drawing of Congressional districts. Madigan won the legal battle over the wording of the amendment as well as the validity of many of the signatures.
The Independent Map Amendment has collected approximately 520,000 signatures. They are also looking to bolster their reservoir of signatures by having volunteers collect signatures at polling places on Tuesday. The group’s Campaign Manager, Dave Mellet said.
The Independent Map Amendment is also looking to capitalize on public sentiment for reforming politics in Illinois. In a recent survey conducted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, nearly two-thirds of respondents supported the movement to reform congressional maps.
Although more Illinois voters are interested in campaign finance reform and term limits, the campaign to reform Congressional maps has broad support in the state and may soon be ready to clear an important hurdle.
Independent Map Amendment hopes to create an 11-member Commission to draw the maps instead of giving lawmakers the authority to do it. The current system allows them to draw districts which collect the most votes for one party.
The district borders are redrawn every 10 years based on new census data. As per the Illinois Constitution, a Committee of lawmakers from both parties is tasked with drawing the map. If they cannot reach an agreement another lawmaker’s name is drawn from a hat. The winning party members can then draw the districts to collect as many votes as possible for their party, and approve it with the tie-breaking vote.
All four of the candidates for the Illinois 74th House District have vocally supported the initiative including Democrat Bill Butts, whose party currently benefits from the gerrymandered maps.
It has bipartisan support across the state as well, including former Gov. Jim Edgar, a Republican, and former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, a Democrat.
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