They claimed you and other voters do not deserve to face the question November 8 of whether an independent commission should draw state legislative district boundaries rather than the legislators themselves – a task state lawmakers only managed once in 46 years without court intervention or political manipulation.
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Republican Governor Bruce Rauner, an outspoken supporter of redistricting reform criticized the court, calling the system “rigged” to maintain Democratic party control.
The People’s Map, a group of minority business and community leaders that challenged the proposed redistricting amendment because they believe it would weaken minority voting rights, is represented by election lawyer Michael Kasper, who’s represented Madigan and a long list of other Illinois Democrats.
“[The] ruling removing redistricting reform from the November ballot was another blow to democracy delivered by political insiders….”, the candidate said.
But the court decided that the proposal did not meet the granular “structural and procedural” requirements for a constitutional change. “Legislators from both parties must reject Madigan’s obstructionism and demand reform”.
The state Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that such a ballot initiative is unconstitutional.
“Republicans want it; Democrats want it”, the governor said Friday.
After the ruling, the three Repubican justices on the high court wrote dissenting opinions. The referendum measure came up during budget talks earlier this summer when Rauner made it one of approximately six legislative proposals that were conditions for breaking the budget stalemate that has plagued the state since July 2015. “In short, the system is broken, and the way this Court interprets the Constitution seems likely to prevent its fix”. Independent Maps is calling for an 11-member commission to be in charge of drawing legislative district lines.
The amendment has had broad support from IL voters, both Democrats and Republicans, in their attempt to depoliticize the creation of gerrymandered legislative districts at the hands of a Democrat-led General Assembly every 10 years. “The Illinois Supreme Court ruled against Independent Maps, by a vote of 4-3”.
He said the ruling is “going to increase public skepticism about government and politics” and “cause erosion of confidence in the judiciary”.
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“There are 563,000 reasons to vote for me over my Democrat opponent for state representative”, Skillicorn recently told McHenry Times. The proposal was meant to make legislative maps less political.
