State Supreme Court Will Hear Remap Case

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Published on July 25 2016 12:06 pm
Last Updated on July 25 2016 12:06 pm
Written by Greg Sapp

The Illinois Supreme Court has decided to take up an appeal by a group seeking to reform how Illinois draws its legislative maps.

Last Wednesday, a Cook County Circuit Court declared the effort unconstitutional. The Illinois Supreme Court then decided late Friday that it would expedite an appeal by the Independent Map Amendment (IMA) coalition.

“The Illinois Supreme Court hasn’t ruled on a citizen initiative since 1994 and has never ruled on these questions that apply to a redistricting amendment,” said IMA chairman Dennis FitzSimons. “We look forward to explaining why the lower court ruling needs to be overturned and why voters this fall should be able to make the changes needed to stop politicians from drawing their own legislative maps.”

The group collected more than 550,000 voter signatures to put the redistricting reform question to voters in November. IMA hopes the Illinois Supreme Court will rule before late August to meet an Illinois State Board of Elections deadline to draw up statewide ballots for the general election in November.

“Cynicism is high because people think the system is rigged, and to some extent, it is,” said FitzSimons, a former CEO of the Tribune Company.

Other states, such as California, have successfully turned drawing legislative maps over to an independent, third party panel.