A group wants voters in Illinois to weigh-in on changing the way state political districts are crafted. But this isn’t the first push to that end:
The goal is to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would create an independent committee, instead of lawmakers, to draw legislative maps.
Group member Brad McMillan also directs Bradley University’s Institute for Principled Leadership. He says the current system favors the political party that’s running state government after a census:
“We believe that if the system is changed, it’s going to help with voter apathy because right now, part of the reason why voters are apathetic is they think it’s rigged.”
A similar effort for last year’s ballot failed after running into legal challenges. Dennis FitzSimons chairs the Independent Maps group. He says the new effort will start collecting required petitions earlier in the year:
“We have the warm, weather months for volunteers to go out, and gather signatures. That was an issue the last campaign had, they started late.”
The group also removed previous language in the amendment that was questioned by a Cook County judge last time around. It has one year to collect more than 290,000 signatures to get on the November 2016 ballot.