Chicago City Wire

Gerrymandering could be a thing of the past in Chicago if a number of the city’s best-known civic groups get their way.

Group members recently kicked off a campaign devoted to establishing an independent commission to redraw Chicago’s ward boundaries and distance the city from the practice of “gerrymandering to protect incumbents.”

Change Illinois has plans of choosing, training and financially supporting a 13-member “people’s commission,” replete with its own “re-districting expert,” in order to get the job done.

“It’s time to end ward gerrymandering that protects incumbents,” Change Illinois executive director Madeline Doubek told the Chicago Sun-Times. “The days of deals over backroom maps are done.”

Change Illinois is joined in the push for change by Rainbow PUSH, the League of Women Voters, the Metropolitan Planning Council, NAACP West Side Chapter, Common Cause Illinois and the Latino Policy Forum.

The 13-member committee will be chosen by designated academics and experts led by former Ald. Independent Dick Simpson. Applications are due by April 9.

“We’ll ask the commissioners to host a series of hearings to collect input and advice and community of interest maps from people in every community,” Doubek added. “Then, the commission will go about creating a map we hope will win support from the City Council.”