Group Asks Illinois High Court For Redistricting Rehearing

Supreme Court Of Illinois
The Supreme Court of Illinois. Alan Scott Walker / Wikimedia Commons
Supreme Court Of Illinois
The Supreme Court of Illinois. Alan Scott Walker / Wikimedia Commons

Group Asks Illinois High Court For Redistricting Rehearing

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CHICAGO (AP) — A group is asking the Illinois Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling that a voter referendum seeking to change how political boundaries are drawn is unconstitutional.

The Independent Maps coalition Wednesday said it filed a petition with the high court. The state Supreme Court ruled last week 4-3 that the coalition’s ballot initiative seeking to give legislative mapmaking power to an independent commission instead of lawmakers didn’t meet constitutional muster. That made the measure ineligible to appear on Illinois’ November general election ballot.

The Aug. 25 ruling fell the day before an election deadline to certify fall ballots. The group needs four votes for a rehearing. They collected about 563,000 signatures for the measure.

Coalition chairman Dennis FitzSimons says the justices in the majority “were wrong and inconsistent in their reasoning.”