Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Poll's broad anger at Illinois gerrymandering puts pressure on Pritzker

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker

J.B. Pritzker supported a nonpartisan Illinois redistricting panel as a candidate for governor. In office, he's been noncommittal.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

Lopsided majorities of Illinois voters, from both parties and all regions, want to take political mapmaking away from the politicians in the biggest blue state that hasn't already given that job to outsiders.

The solid sentiment was expressed in a poll released Tuesday by a coalition pushing legislation that would put creation of an independent redistricting commission to a statewide vote. The 30 groups in the Change Illinois coalition say they'll use the results to pressure Democratic Gov. J.B Pritzker to endorse the idea, which would significantly increase its chances in Springfield.

If such a referendum gets on the November ballot, which for now remains a long shot, Illinois would join Virginia as the biggest states voting to end partisan gerrymandering before the lines are redrawn for the 2020s.


The Illinois plan must get through the General Assembly by May 3 to be on the ballot. The proposed commission would be similar to the one that began work a decade ago in California, a watershed moment in the history of political reform.

Its 17 members would be non-politicians, with a bloc from neither party, and they would be required to set legislative and congressional boundaries that are compact, keep communities together and assure that minority groups have a fair shot at electing a number of lawmakers in line with their population share.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

The goal would be to create more competition, both within and between the parties, in a state where those in control have historically minimized the political expense while maximizing their power. Democrats did so with impressive precision a decade ago: More than half the state House and Senate races were not even contested by one of the parties in the last two elections, and only two of the state's 18 congressional districts have changed partisan hands this decade.

In the poll, of 609 likely voters in early February, 75 percent overall supported creation of an independent commission to draw maps — including 82 percent of Democrats, 68 percent of Republicans and more than three-quarters of voters in Chicago, its suburbs and the rest of northern Illinois. Support slipped as low as 63 percent only in rural downstate.

Moreover, strong majorities of both parties (and 74 percent overall) urged Pritzker to take the lead in pushing the proposal. While he endorsed the idea of amending the state Constitution to form an independent commission as a gubernatorial candidate two years ago, he has remained steadfastly noncommittal since taking office. Instead, he has said repeatedly that he would veto mapmaking legislation in 2021 if he concluded the lines were too partisan.

Illinois good-government groups have been pushing for an outsider panel all decade, and they have come up short three times so far. In 2016, the state Supreme Court cited technical grounds in ruling Illinois could not vote on a proposal that made its way to the ballot thanks to 550,000 petition signatures.

Read More

Ken Powley
Team Democracy

Meet the change leaders: Ken Powley

Nevins is co-publisher ofThe Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of theBridge Alliance Education Fund.

Ken Powley and Chris Newlon founded Team Democracy in early 2021. Its signature initiative is the nonpartisan Safe and Fair Election Pledge. The pledge is designed to create an important piece of common ground where Americans — including their elected representatives — can join together from opposite sides of the aisle in committing themselves to protecting the most essential guardrails of American democracy: safe and fair elections, and the peaceful transfer of power.

Keep ReadingShow less
Drawing of a scene from "Alice in Wonderland"

Alice attends the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, iIllustration by Sir John Tenniel.

Andrew_Howe

We live in our own version of Wonderland

Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."

“Curiouser and curiouser,” Alice cried after falling down the rabbit hole in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

In nearly every arena of our lives we might observe the same, from our changing climate and increasingly high-stakes global conflicts, to space travel, energy conservation and the accelerating use of artificial intelligence. And, of course, in our volatile politics. Things are indeed getting curiouser.

Keep ReadingShow less
NVIDIA headquarters

Our stock market pivots on the performance of a handful of AI-focused companies like Nvidia.

hapabapa/Getty Images

We may face another 'too big to fail' scenario as AI labs go unchecked

Frazier is an assistant professor at the Crump College of Law at St. Thomas University and a Tarbell fellow.

In the span of two or so years, OpenAI, Nvidia and a handful of other companies essential to the development of artificial intelligence have become economic behemoths. Their valuations and stock prices have soared. Their products have become essential to Fortune 500 companies. Their business plans are the focus of the national security industry. Their collapse would be, well, unacceptable. They are too big to fail.

The good news is we’ve been in similar situations before. The bad news is we’ve yet to really learn our lesson.

Keep ReadingShow less
Woman dancing

Mexican Independence Day celebration in Chicago

We must welcome in Latine unity

Marín is the co-creator and community advocate at BECOME. Rodríguez is the co-executive director of Enlace Chicago.

The Welcoming Neighborhood Listening Initiative delves into the dynamic social landscape of Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, exploring resident perspectives on the influx of new neighbors seeking asylum. The study moves beyond traditional data collection to activate community members as leaders in driving transformative solutions. Ultimately, the report emphasizes the importance of culturally responsive training and community dialogues to foster understanding, bridge cultural divides and build a more inclusive Little Village for all.

Chicago just marked Mexican Independence Day with a reinstated celebration of El Grito in downtown and an annual parade in La Villita, a primarily Mexican neighborhood also known as Little Village. These festivities kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month, which celebrates the independence of Mexico along with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Chile.

Keep ReadingShow less

Meet the change leaders: Pearce Godwin

Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

Pearce Godwin is founder of the Listen First Project and the #ListenFirst Coalition of 500 organizations bringing Americans together across differences to listen, understand each other and discover common interests.

He catalyzes the movement to save America from toxic polarization by shifting social norms from division, distrust, contempt and violence toward connection, understanding and belonging. Pearce manages large-scale, co-created endeavors such as Meeting of America and the annual National Week of Conversation to engage as many Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs as possible to turn down the heat and find a way forward together.

Keep ReadingShow less