By The Editorial Board – Chicago Tribune
Here in Illinois, the most urgent threat to democracy is concrete: political maps deliberately and specifically designed to disenfranchise voters.
Here’s a specific example of how that plays out.
Illinois last redrew its state legislative maps in 2021. When that happened, state Rep. Ryan Spain, a Republican from Peoria, saw his district get completely distorted.
Peoria is a big enough place that it’ll always be in multiple districts. The 73rd District, which Spain represents, used to cover about a third of the city of Peoria and the surrounding suburban areas.
But the new 73rd District includes nine counties and chops up many small communities — Morrison, with fewer than 4,000 residents, got split in half by the mapmakers.
Spain’s district now also includes areas along the Mississippi River, north of the Quad Cities. He no longer represents many of his own neighbors in his own town.
There’s no logic to that. And Spain’s district is hardly the only one that makes little geographic sense.
We have long called for leaders to address this problem, known as gerrymandering, by which politicians in power pick their voters and retain that power, no matter if it completely undermines our system of government.
Read the full editorial here.