Legal Challenge Filed Against Illinois Ballot Remap Effort
By Tony ArnoldLegal Challenge Filed Against Illinois Ballot Remap Effort
By Tony ArnoldCHICAGO (AP) — An attorney linked to top Illinois Democrats is again suing over an effort to let voters decide if the power to draw political maps should be given to an independent commission.
The lawsuit filed in Cook County brought by a well-known Chicago elections attorney who successfully fought a similar 2014 effort and has been House Speaker Michael Madigan’s general counsel.
The lawsuit alleges the proposed Nov. 8 ballot question doesn’t meet constitutional requirements, puts together unrelated questions and imposes new duties on the auditor general and Supreme Court members.
The Independent Maps coalition wants an 11-member commission to draw political boundaries, not the party in power. Coalition chairman Dennis FitzSimons dismissed the lawsuit Thursday as the work of “political insiders.”
A spokesman says Madigan, who leads the state Democratic Party, isn’t involved.