CHICAGO – Today, CHANGE Illinois, as a member of the Illinois Redistricting Collaborative, sent an 18-question gerrymandering survey to all the candidates running to be governor of Illinois. Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago, the Better Government Association, Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, Citizen Advocacy Center, Common Cause Illinois, League of Women Voters Illinois, NAACP Chicago – South Side Branch, Small Business Advocacy Council, and the Chicago Chapter of the Centrist Project have joined CHANGE Illinois in this effort elicit the candidates’ views on gerrymandering.

The survey asks candidates whether they support ending the practice of gerrymandering, an established political practice in Illinois designed to protect incumbents from competitive elections.

The gerrymandering survey response deadline is Tuesday, January 23rd. Each gubernatorial candidate’s response to the survey will be shared with the press and the public and posted online.

“Before Illinois voters head to polls on March 20th, they deserve to know where each candidate – Republican and Democratic alike – stands on gerrymandering and what they would do to support fair maps in office,” stated John Sirek, Interim Executive Director of CHANGE Illinois.

“The winner of the 2018 gubernatorial election will preside over the next redistricting process in 2021,” added Sirek. “Will they support the status quo and just rubber stamp whatever maps are put in front of them or will they demand additional transparency and support independent maps to put Illinois voters first?”

This gerrymandering survey to get gubernatorial candidates on-the-record is just the first step in addressing the need for redistricting reform.

CHANGE Illinois and its partner organizations, in the Illinois Redistricting Collaborative, plan on using the 2018 elections as an opportunity to raise public awareness about gerrymandering. Candidates (and current official holders) for the Illinois General Assembly will receive a similar survey in the weeks ahead.

In the coming weeks, Illinois Redistricting Collaborative members will begin working with legislative allies in the Illinois General Assembly to draft a legislative constitutional amendment aimed at creating a fairer map-making process.

A recent Paul Simon Institute poll showed similar overwhelming support here in Illinois for redistricting reform – with 72 percent of Illinoisans supporting an independent commission to draw Illinois’ district lines.

Recent elections results have shown the harm that gerrymandering has done to Illinois voter choice at the ballot box. In a study of Illinois’ 2014 elections, nearly 60 percent of state house seats were uncontested and even greater number of state senate seats (63 percent) were similarly uncontested.

This same study found that, on average over the past four decades, 88 percent of Illinois voters (in 104 of 118 House races; 52 of 59 Senate races) had either no choice at all on the ballot or a choice between a “sure winner” and a “sure loser.”