Thank you, king! No independent maps in Illinois until we have them nationwide.
At best Congress can mandate them for congressional districts, but not for state legislative districts. Since Pubs in their supermajority states say the same thing, your statement is equivalent of saying no independent maps for the state ever. The irony is that in states like IL an independent map is unlikely to affect the Dem control of the state, but would probably put a number of incumbents at risk in primaries or general elections with ungerrymandered districts.
Nope, I would be fine with fair maps on the state level. My comment was chiefly about federal districts, in which our congressional seats will sit alongside those of all other states. I see no reason for the Illinois legislature to take away its own power to control the drawing of our federal districts while Republican states with large delegations (TX, FL) continue to gerrymander their states into oblivion.
Unfortunately, it seems that many Democratic states are very happy to cede ten more years of Republican control of the House so they can stand on principle. People are so quick to forget how badly the gerrymandered 2010 maps impeded Democratic legislation during the last decade.
The structure of the Senate is already slanted in favor of Republicans. I'd rather the House not be the same.
Independent maps at the State Legislative level most definitely is a form of unilateral disarmament that we cannot accept. What if we lose the legislature of many states because of it, therefore giving Republicans more power in congressional redistricting over the next decade?
