By Madeleine Doubek –
I recently enjoyed spending time with Gil Ontai and Jeanne Raya. He’s an architect from San Diego who votes for Republicans. She runs a family-owned insurance agency in San Gabriel, California, and votes for Democrats. They got along with each other beautifully.
Why should you care about any of this? Ontai and Raya were two of the 14 average voters from the nation’s most populous state who drew maps for California’s assembly, state senate and congressional districts after the last census.
OPINION
I recently enjoyed spending time with Gil Ontai and Jeanne Raya. He’s an architect from San Diego who votes for Republicans. She runs a family-owned insurance agency in San Gabriel, California, and votes for Democrats. They got along with each other beautifully.
Why should you care about any of this? Ontai and Raya were two of the 14 average voters from the nation’s most populous state who drew maps for California’s assembly, state senate and congressional districts after the last census.
I recently enjoyed spending time with Gil Ontai and Jeanne Raya. He’s an architect from San Diego who votes for Republicans. She runs a family-owned insurance agency in San Gabriel, California, and votes for Democrats. They got along with each other beautifully.
Why should you care about any of this? Ontai and Raya were two of the 14 average voters from the nation’s most populous state who drew maps for California’s assembly, state senate and congressional districts after the last census.
Ontai and I listened closely in Springfield as a House Democrat debated with Raya about map contiguity and how it was measured and defined in California. As the lawmaker turned to leave, Ontai spoke up. We can debate metrics and measurements forever, he suggested, but in the end, it’s pointless. What matters is who you believe should draw the maps.
When politicians draw them, self-interest and conflicts of interest are blatant.
The Illinois Fair Maps Amendment has a supermajority of 36 of 59 senators signed on as sponsors, including 19 Republicans and 17 Democrats. It’s supported by minority groups, farmers, business and good government advocates around Illinois.
Is it right that there’s all that support, but Illinois Senate President John Cullerton hasn’t assigned it to a favorable committee to be debated and voted on?
What was done by Ontai, Raya and the other California commissioners ought to be tried here. Illinois politicians shouldn’t meddle in our elections any more than Russians should. We deserve elections we can trust. We deserve to know our votes mean something. Let’s try a citizen redistricting commission.
Madeleine Doubek is executive director of CHANGE Illinois, a nonpartisan nonprofit that leads the Illinois Redistricting Collaborative advocating for an end to gerrymandering and other reforms.
View Original Publication: Chicago Sun-Times