According to the Peoria Journal Star, a commission holding meetings across the state of Illinois on governmental reform is considering advocating for redistricting reform in the state. Illinois has one of the oddest processes of redistricting around. If the legislature is unable to agree on a new redistricting map, the names of a Democratic legislator and a Republican legislator are put in a hat, and the party of whoever gets pulled out of the hat is in charge of the process. This means that the power to draw the lines in the state essentially comes down the flip of the coin.
Brad McMillan, a commission member and head of the Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service at Bradley University, had this to say about the current process:
“We’re the only state in the country where if a bipartisan (redistricting) map is not agreed to, you draw a name out of a hat, and that party gets to call all the shots,” McMillan said. “It’s not the best system to serve the people of the state of Illinois.”
The commission has not said what they would propose instead, but Mr. McMillan speaks favorably of Iowa’s current system of independent redistricting in the article.
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