Dawn Abernathy, a Republican running for the District 59 State House seat, responded to a recent court ruling against the Independent Maps ballot measure, which would overhaul Illinois' redistricting practices, through a post on her Facebook page.
A Cook County judge struck down the proposed constitutional amendment, which would have diminished the General Assembly’s ability to map legislative districts. The Illinois Supreme Court has accepted the case on appeal, however.
| Contributed photo
A judge deemed that the Independent Maps proposal did not align with legal requirements for petitioning. The district court ruling is seen as a loss for Gov. Bruce Rauner and the statewide Independent Maps group, and a win for House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Dist. 22).
"Instead of supporting the chance to vote for fair maps, Mike Madigan's allies sued to stop voters from having the opportunity to vote for reform,” Republican Party spokesman Steven Yaffe said. “It's sad to see that Mike Madigan's Democratic Party would rather deny voters their voice than face fair, competitive elections."
Abernathy took issue with the view that this was a ruling against Rauner.
“They make it sound like it was against Gov. Rauner,” Abernathy said. “(This) was against the 564,000 Illinois residents that signed the petition.”
Currently, legislative boundaries are controlled by the representatives and senators in the Assembly, subject to the governor’s approval. Claiming that it allots disproportionate power to incumbent lawmakers, the Independent Maps group wants to appoint an 11-member board with approval required from a bipartisan commission.
"’Fair’ is a word that Mike Madigan and Carol Sente (D-Dist. 59) have lost from their vocabulary,” Abernathy said, referring to Sente’s support of increased spending by almost $3 billion. “The more we take out of the hands of politicians, the better Illinois will be.”
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