Illinois Redistricting Amendment Campaign

[muon2]

A new initiative to put a constitutional amendment on the 2014 ballot was announced this week. It is somewhat similar to the CA process and the summary of the proposal with a link to the draft text is here.

The coalition is looking for comments before finalizing the language for the petitions. I know there are plenty of posters here who could bring some useful comments forward. I'd be happy to see that comments on the draft get to the coalition.

[krazen1211]

Excellent.

[Sbane]

Why isn't this being proposed in Ohio or Texas? Democrats are such pussies.

[Gass3268]

I hope this fails. Unless you can get a Republican state, like Pennsylvania, to do this as well. Democrats only have a few states were they cane even out the unbalance of Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. Why should we have to unilaterally disarm in one of the few states were we have some power. Hopefully they don't get the signatures and in the worst case the Democrats are able to mobilize their base to vote against. Use the same campaign techniques that Republicans used in Ohio to defeat their non-partisan redistricting proposal. Say this takes away the power of their elected representatives.       

Really there needs to be Federal action on gerrymandering.

[ilikeverin]

Good for you, Illinois!  One thing I've always wondered about: is "Republicans" and "Democrats" actually specified in these sorts of amendments, or is it just "members of major parties" (which right now happen to be Republicans and Democrats)?

[krazen1211]

Why isn't this being proposed in Ohio or Texas? Democrats are such pussies.

It was in Ohio. The people said no.

[Gass3268]

Why isn't this being proposed in Ohio or Texas? Democrats are such pussies.

It was in Ohio. The people said no.

Hopefully the people of Illinois say no too!

[Sol]

All the Democrats complaining here are being huge hypocrites. I'd rather have a huge GOP house majority with more Nonpartisan redistricting in left-wing states.

[Gass3268]

All the Democrats complaining here are being huge hypocrites. I'd rather have a huge GOP house majority with more Nonpartisan redistricting in left-wing states.

Unilaterally disarming is stupid and counterproductive. Like I said, the only way to deal with this is on the Federal level.   

[muon2]

All the Democrats complaining here are being huge hypocrites. I'd rather have a huge GOP house majority with more Nonpartisan redistricting in left-wing states.

Unilaterally disarming is stupid and counterproductive. Like I said, the only way to deal with this is on the Federal level.   

Redistricting reform didn't hurt the Dems control in CA, and IL has a similar partisan make up. This proposal here is only for the state legislature so the feds can't intervene. Of course other states should do the same and I worked in favor of the OH amendment that failed.

[Sbane]

Why isn't this being proposed in Ohio or Texas? Democrats are such pussies.

It was in Ohio. The people said no.

So I assume you were in favor of it, considering you are in favor of it in Illinois?

[krazen1211]

Why isn't this being proposed in Ohio or Texas? Democrats are such pussies.

It was in Ohio. The people said no.

So I assume you were in favor of it, considering you are in favor of it in Illinois?

In favor of the campaign? Sure.

[Sbane]

Why isn't this being proposed in Ohio or Texas? Democrats are such pussies.

It was in Ohio. The people said no.

So I assume you were in favor of it, considering you are in favor of it in Illinois?

In favor of the campaign? Sure.

So you want non-partisan redistricting in both Ohio and Illinois?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Gerrymandering isn't an ICBM with which you can engage in in Mutually Assured Destruction. It is a corruption of the system and it degrades the quality of the politicians into useless bots, hacks and extremists. People of all parties are better off with as many states having a better process as possible.

All the Democrats complaining here are being huge hypocrites. I'd rather have a huge GOP house majority with more Nonpartisan redistricting in left-wing states.

Unilaterally disarming is stupid and counterproductive. Like I said, the only way to deal with this is on the Federal level.   

There are only a handfull of states that have a problem, most of them are big and/or swing states. Many states already have solid systems in place and having the House dictate this is a bad precedent and could lead to a future majority actually requiring that it be done by state legislatures if they feel it is in their partisan advantage to do so. As for a Constitutional Amendment, it would be harder to get that than to do it state by state.

[krazen1211]

Why isn't this being proposed in Ohio or Texas? Democrats are such pussies.

It was in Ohio. The people said no.

So I assume you were in favor of it, considering you are in favor of it in Illinois?

In favor of the campaign? Sure.

So you want non-partisan redistricting in both Ohio and Illinois?

That is for the people to decide. That said, this legislation does create a nicer set of standards for redistricting. Michigan already has the same.

[krazen1211]

All the Democrats complaining here are being huge hypocrites. I'd rather have a huge GOP house majority with more Nonpartisan redistricting in left-wing states.

The amendment would not affect Illinois’s Congressional district or local maps.

[DrScholl]

It needs to fail, Republicans can't draw ridiculous districts in blue states and also expect fair districts in others that they don't control. When Republicans considering changing maps in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, then they can argue for changes to rules elsewhere, otherwise, it's hypocritical.

[ilikeverin]

...some days partisanship makes me cry

[Sol]

All the Democrats complaining here are being huge hypocrites. I'd rather have a huge GOP house majority with more Nonpartisan redistricting in left-wing states.

The amendment would not affect Illinois’s Congressional district or local maps.

I meant for the 2020 redistricting round.

Also, having nonpartisan redistricting could even benefit Ds in the future. If a realignment happens, it could ensure that we still get a fair number of districts.

[muon2]

...some days partisanship makes me cry

That's so true with gerrymandering - it was created precisely to cement partisan control and for no other purpose. It worked that first time in 1812 for the MA Senate, and it's been a feature in the US since.

[Gass3268]

All the Democrats complaining here are being huge hypocrites. I'd rather have a huge GOP house majority with more Nonpartisan redistricting in left-wing states.

Unilaterally disarming is stupid and counterproductive. Like I said, the only way to deal with this is on the Federal level.   

Redistricting reform didn't hurt the Dems control in CA, and IL has a similar partisan make up. This proposal here is only for the state legislature so the feds can't intervene. Of course other states should do the same and I worked in favor of the OH amendment that failed.

Oh, I must have missed that. I'm cool with it now.

[greenforest32]

Needs to be done federally.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/22/1201551/-Did-Gerrymandering-Cost-Dems-the-House-A-33-State-Look-at-Alternative-Non-Partisan-Maps

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/States_with_initiative_or_referendum

[muon2]

Needs to be done federally.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/22/1201551/-Did-Gerrymandering-Cost-Dems-the-House-A-33-State-Look-at-Alternative-Non-Partisan-Maps

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/States_with_initiative_or_referendum

The feds could only legislate redistricting for Congressional districts. This is about state legislative districts.

[greenforest32]

The feds could only legislate redistricting for Congressional districts. This is about state legislative districts.

I'm thinking of a federal court decision as well, which I do realize is highly unlikely at the moment.

[Mr. Illini]

Why isn't this being proposed in Ohio or Texas? Democrats are such pussies.

It was in Ohio. The people said no.

Hopefully the people of Illinois say no too!

I say "Yes!"