The Illinois Reapportionment System. An Absolute Disgrace!

The Illinois General Assembly is the Illinois Legislative body. It consists of a House and a Senate. The House has 118 members elected from 118 "Representative Districts." The Senate has 59 members elected from 59 "Legislative Districts." Each Senate ("legislative") district is divided into two House ("representative") districts


In the year following each Federal decennial census year, the General Assembly is required by law to redistrict both the Legislative and the Representative Districts.


Article IV, Section 3 of The Illinois Constitution of 1970 provides, "Legislative Districts shall be compact, contiguous and substantially equal in population. Representative Districts shall be compact, contiguous, and substantially equal in population."

No similar Illinois provision governs the drawing of Congressional Districts.


The average citizen's definition of "compact" would be roughly akin to the dictionary definition: "closely and neatly packed together; dense ... neatly fitted into a small space.


But in 1895, Illinois legislators and judges "defined" the requirement of "compactness," which was found in the Illinois Constitution of 1870, out of existence. In approving a gerrymandered map drawn by the legislature, the Illinois Supreme Court did so by defining "compactness" in a way to render the term meaningless.


"[W]e are of the opinion that as used in the constitution ... the provision that districts shall be formed of ... compact territory means that [they] ... must be closely united, territorially."


Under that definition two intersecting road could be deemed "compact." Certainly where they intersect, they are "closely united, territorially." But nobody except a political hack in the legislature or on the bench would say that I-80 and I-74 are "compact" because the are "closely united" at their point of intersection.

The drafters of the Illinois Constitution of 1970 were fully aware of what the 1895 Illinois

Supreme Court had done when they reinserted the "compact" requirement into the Constitution of 1970. But they again failed to define "compact!" So the legislature, and the court following its their earlier precedent, have once again ignored the plain meaning of the word — just as they did in 1895.


Nevertheless, the drafters clearly understood the importance of the "compactness" requirement. The Report of the Legislative Committee which proposed the language adopted by the 1970 Convention. It stated:


"Perhaps no standards for drawing legislative district boundaries possess a longer history than the traditional standards of compactness and contiguity. In our present Constitution, these standards are found in both Sections 6 and 7. These standards directly reflect the objective of improving legislative representation through seeking to insure that districts are not gerrymandered."


Presently the Illinois Senate consisted of 41 Democrats and 18 Republicans. The House consists of 73 Democrats and 45 Republicans. Democrats therefore have absolute control of both houses. The Republicans are utterly irrelevant. In Congress, the Democrats hold 13 of 18 seats.


You can see the results of Democrat gerrymandering — with judicial approval. Just look at the 2011 maps. Or look at the new 2021 maps the Democrats have just trotted out. [Of course, the Republican would do the same thing if they had the power.]


Proposed Illinois Senate Map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewerll=40.08707930358038%2C88.48127570835499&z=8&mid=1X9lSD13vTX_-4oIyWqstGk8e1VFGJ_i2

Proposed Illinois House Map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/viewer?mid=1L7I2r4gat9nRWx9wfaizpn7XkA7i1qL4&ll=39.79510521942542%2C-89.50414500000001&z=6



To see what the Illinois Democrats perceive to be "compact," simply look at the present Illinois Congressional map. Can any sane man honestly describe existing Congressional districts 1, 5, 6, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, as "compact?" This map reduces the redistricting process to crass political cynicism.

https://www.ilga.gov/CongressionalDistrictMaps/Statewide%20View.pdf


As a result of the Democrat gerrymandering in Illinois has been ruled by one-party government for the last 10 years. This map is designed to guarantee that elections are non-competitive. It succeded.

So what's my solution?


As I have no confidence the Illinois Supreme Court will construe the word "compact" as the drafters who wrote our constitutions intended, I see only two possible solutions:


(1) Elect holy angels to draw the map; or (2) amend the Illinois Constitution to provide:

All districts shall be compact — squares, rectangles or triangles. No district shall have more than four sides. All sides shall be straight lines, unless one or more sidesor the sides are the state boundry lines. No arcs, no curves, no squiggles. The only factor, beyond shape, that may be considered in drawing the district's lines is population equality.


Or if the politicians would choke on my solution, they might check out Iowa's. Iowa's Congressional Districts are pretty darn "compact." Copy the Iowa system!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa%27s_congressional_districts


In Iowa there are only four Congressional Districts. Indication that the Iowa system works, is that from the 2014 election until the 2018 elections, Republican held 3 of 4 seats. In 2018, Democrats grabbed 3 of 4 seats. In 2020, Republicans 3 of 4 seats back.




Democracy works best when the voters can "throw the bums out"— whether they are Republican bums or Democrat bums.



Copyright 2021, John Donald O'Shea

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on September 14, 2021 under the caption "Level the Playing Field."