Illinois governor urges 2018 vote on 'rigged' political mapmaking
Source: Reuters
POLITICS | Fri Aug 26, 2016 7:39pm EDT
Illinois governor urges 2018 vote on 'rigged' political mapmaking
By Dave McKinney | CHICAGO
Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner urged lawmakers on Friday to allow voters in 2018 to decide whether to change how political boundaries are drawn after the state's Supreme Court a day earlier declared a petition-driven redistricting initiative for this fall's statewide ballot unconstitutional.
Rauner called Illinois' existing political maps, which are drawn by Democrats who control the General Assembly, "rigged and gerrymandered" because they have left a majority of legislative races this fall without challengers to incumbent legislators.
"Our system of government is broken," Rauner told reporters during a stop in Marion, in far southern Illinois. "Two-thirds of our general elections don't have opponents, and we've got to change the system."
The next opportunity for state legislators to put a constitutional amendment before voters comes in two years, when the first-term governor is expected to be in the midst of a re-election campaign.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-illinois-politics-idUSKCN1112HQ