Voters in Oak Park and Proviso townships this month overwhelmingly supported an initiative called “Fair Maps” that promotes having an independent redistricting commission, rather than politicians, draw legislative and Congressional maps in the state.
The non-binding referendum question asked whether the state of Illinois should “adopt an independent citizens’ commission for federal and state redistricting process, that would be guided by principles in fair map initiatives?”
According to latest tallies, 81% of voters in Oak Park Township and 73% of voters in Proviso Township said yes.
The referendum question was added to the ballot under a process outlined by the state that gives citizens a chance to put an advisory, or non-binding, referendum on a ballot. Change Illinois, a nonprofit, nonpartisan governmental reform advocacy group, obtained more than the required 15 signatures the state requires for placement on a township’s agenda for its annual meeting. If voters approve it at the meeting, the township clerk must send it to the county for placement on the ballot. In this case, the measure was approved by voters at the Oak Park Township meeting in April.
According to DuShaun Branch Pollard, community organizing director at Change Illinois, non-binding questions are basically survey questions.
“Our goal was to have a chance for voters in Oak Park and Proviso to really give their thoughts around how they want the maps to be drawn,” Branch Pollard said. “We were super excited to get it on the ballot.”
The Illinois Constitution requires lawmakers to redraw district lines every 10 years after the U.S. census is taken.
Branch Pollard said Change Illinois is working to end gerrymandering, the practice of drawing boundaries of electoral districts in a way that benefits one political party over another.
The consequence of gerrymandering, according to Change Illinois, is that politicians can choose certain voters and exclude others, limiting their voting power. If many districts are defined by gerrymandering, the voters’ representatives could fail to match the true majority’s political party.
“We have some politicians in the state of Illinois who have been in office for a very long time,” Branch Pollard said. “It makes it harder for people to run against them.”
According to Branch Pollard, Fair Maps better reflect the needs of the community, making it easier for people to organize with others in their neighborhood and hold politicians accountable.
“The point of Fair Maps is that people get to choose the politicians and politicians don’t choose their voters,” she said.
Branch Pollard said Change Illinois is inspired by independent redistricting commissions that have been established in both Michigan and California.
Now that so many residents of Oak Park and Proviso Townships voted in favor of the referendum, Change Illinois will take that information to state representatives as an incentive for changing the maps.
“We hope to do some letter writing campaigns in the new year to our legislatures, to let them know what the voters in Oak Park and Proviso said,” Branch Pollard said.
One major source of support that Change Illinois got while trying to get the non-binding referendum question on November’s ballot was from the League of Women Voters of Oak Park-River Forest.
“The league has a lot of positions and one of them is fair and open elections,” said Peggy Kell, voter services chair for LOWV-OPRF. “We feel that with gerrymandering, the candidates sometimes pick their voters instead of the voters picking the candidates.”
Kell said Change Illinois will present the data that was collected to legislatures in order to try to get the process changed for how voting districts are established.
“This was a truly grassroots, community-led effort that gave residents a voice to send a powerful message to their elected officials that voters are determined to end gerrymandering,” said Branch Pollard.
For more information about Change Illinois, visit https://www.changeil.org.
