REDISTRICTING BOOTCAMP:

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK

Presented May 5, 2011

Acknowledgments
 We would like to thank State Representative Arthur
Turner, Jr., State Representative La Shawn Ford and
Commissioner Robert Steele for lending their
support to this non-partisan event.
 We thank Toni Pitchford, Nikol Miller and Steve
Laue of the US Census Bureau for their technical
assistance.
 We also thank the Tutor Mentor Connection for
allowing us to use their maps.
Partners
 Lawndale Alliance
 Illinois Campaign for Accountable Redistricting (ICAR)
 Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct
Organization (IVI-IPO)
 Open Door Foundation
 Empowered Citizens of North Lawndale (ECONL)
 The United Congress of Community and Religious
Organizations
 North Lawndale Community News
Planning Committee
 Richard Barnett  Fred Mitchell
 Melva Brownlee  Gene Moreno
 Michael Evers  Josina Morita
 Millie Goldsmith  Aviva Patt
 Bruce Jackson  Sondra Spellman
 Mickey Johnson  Dwayne Truss
 Jimmy Lee Lard  Jeffery Turner
 Valerie F. Leonard  Jocelyn Woodards
 Isaac Lewis  Gladys Woodson
Agenda
 Opening Prayer……………. Member of the Audience

 Scripture……………………. Member of the Audience

 The What, Why, When, Who,

Jimmy Lee Lard
and How……..……….......……
Lawndale Alliance
 Legal Considerations……………. Valerie F. Leonard
Lawndale Alliance
 The Real Deal:
Aviva Patt
Case Studies from Illinois………
IVI-IPO
The What, Why, When, Who, and How
Presented by Jimmy Lee Lard
What is Redistricting?
 Redistricting is the process of redefining the political
geographic boundaries including representative
districts, senate districts, and congressional districts.
 The State of Illinois’ Constitution gives the General
Assembly the responsibility for redrawing
legislative boundaries every ten years after the
release of the decennial Census.

Source: Illinois Redistricting Website

Apportionment
 "Apportionment" is the process of dividing the 435
memberships, or seats, in the House of Representatives
among the 50 states based on the population figures
collected during the decennial census. There are 435
seats in the House of Representatives.
 The State of Illinois has 19 representatives and will lose
a seat
 Although the State’s population has grown 3% since the last
Census, other states in the Southwest have grown at much
faster rates

Source: Census.gov
 Apportionment
 On the state level, most states maintain a fixed number of
legislators, but some let the size of the legislature grow or
shrink as the population grows or shrinks
 Illinois has 118 seats in the House of Representatives and 59
Senators
 Each Illinois Senate District is ―nested‖, meaning they are
comprised of 2 Representative Districts
 Each district must have equal population.

 Reapportionment, then, is the process every ten years of

deciding, based on population, how many representatives a
state will receive. This also happens on the state and local
levels.

Source: Brennan Center for Justice

When is redistricting done?
 Redistricting is done every 10 years, after the decennial Census
 In March of years ending in ―0‖ (1980, 1990, 2000, etc.),the Census Bureau
sends out questionnaires and census workers to count the population, and
compiles basic demographic data like gender, age, and race.
 Citizenship is not taken into account

 By December 31st of years ending in ―0,‖ the Census Bureau sends

population counts to the President.
 The President, in turn, passes the population figures along to Congress,
along with a calculation of how many federal Congressmembers are
apportioned to each state, using a formula set by federal statute.
 Within one year of the federal Census, the Census Bureau also sends
population data to the states.This information includes population counts by
age and race, down to individual blocks.

Source: Brennan Center for Justice

Who Draws the Lines?

 In Illinois, the State

Legislature draws the
lines, if a plan may be
drawn and approved by
June 30th .
 If there is no agreement,
then the process
continues as outlined on
the following timeline.
Source: ildcca.org
Redistricting Timeline
Source: Illinois Redistricting Website

December 21, 2010 State Populations and congressional apportionment delivered to President
Obama. Illinois loses one of its 19 Congressional Districts.
January 12, 2011 Inauguration of 97th General Assembly
June 30, 2011 If no redistricting plan becomes effective by this date, a Legislative
Redistricting Commission shall be constituted.
July 10, 2011 Deadline for formation of Redistricting Commission. The Commission shall
consist of eight members, no more than four of whom shall be members of
the same political party.
August 10, 2011 Deadline for Redistricting Commission to file an approved plan with the
Secretary of State approved by at least five members.
September 1, 2011 If the Redistricting Commission fails to file an approved plan, the Supreme
Court shall submit the names of two persons, not of the same political party,
to the Secretary of State no later than this date.
September 5, 2011 No later than this date the Secretary of State shall draw by random
selection the name of one of the two persons to serve as the ninth member
of the Commission.
October 5, 2011 Last day for Redistricting Commission to file a redistricting plan with the
Secretary of State approved by at least five members.
 Why does redistricting matter?
 Allows politicians to choose their voters, rather than
have voters choose them
 May be used to eliminate incumbents, or
consolidate their power
 May be used to eliminate challengers
 Example: After Barack Obama won 30% of the vote
against Congressman Bobby Rush, the district was re-
drawn to eliminate Barack Obama’s house

Source: Brennan Center for Justice

 Why You Should Care About Redistricting

 May be used to pack partisans

 Draw districts in such a way as to get as many people
as possible in a district who are most likely to vote a
certain way
 Split communities
 Divide communities among several representative
districts such that they never gain power
 Dilute the minority vote

Source: Brennan Center for Justice

 How are the lines drawn?
 States have a number of options to start the process
 By evaluating current districts
 By drawing around minority communities to ensure
compliance with Voting Rights Acts
 Start at northeast corner and work to the southwest
 Start at southeast corner and work to northwest
 Start at center and branch outwards

 Transparency
 Allowing the public to understand the process and
provide input into how and where the lines are drawn

Source: Brennan Center for Justice

Legal Considerations
Presented by Valerie F. Leonard
14th Amendment
 Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
The U.S. Constitution provision that includes the
Equal Protection Clause, which prohibits the states
from denying persons equal protection of the law.
The Equal Protection Clause is the primary basis of
the one-person, one-vote principle.

Source: Illinois Redistricting Website

 15th Amendment
 The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the
United States Constitution prohibits each
government in the United States from denying a
citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's ―race,
color, or previous condition of servitude" (i.e.,
slavery).
 Ratified on February 3, 1870.

Source: Wikipedia
Voting Rights Act of 1965
 Based on the 15th Amendment
 Prohibits states from imposing any "voting qualification or prerequisite to
voting, or standard, practice, or procedure ... to deny or abridge the right
of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.
 Congress intended the Act to outlaw the practice of requiring otherwise
qualified voters to pass literacy in order to register to vote, a principal means
by which Southern states had prevented African-Americans from exercising the
franchise.
 Established extensive federal oversight of elections administration,
providing that states with a history of discriminatory voting practices (so-
called ―covered jurisdictions‖) could not implement any change affecting
voting without first obtaining the approval of the Department of Justice, a
process known as ‖pre-clearance‖.
 The Act has been renewed and amended by Congress four times, the most
recent being a 25-year extension signed into law by President George W.
Bush in 2006.

Source: Wikipedia
 Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011
 Legislative Districts and Representative Districts must be
drawn to create majority-minority districts, crossover
districts, coalition districts, or influence districts
 Provides definitions for the new districts.
 The Voting Rights Act of Illinois cannot override any
provision in the US Constitution or Illinois Constitution
 Any violations of the Act will lead to the creation of a
new redistricting plan that will correct the violation.
 Creates the Redistricting Transparency and Public
Participation Act.

Source: ilga.gov
 New Districts Defined by the Illinois
Voting Rights Act of 2011
 Coalition district: A district where more than one group of
racial minorities or language minorities may form a coalition
to elect the candidate of the coalition’s choice.
 Crossover district: A district where a racial minority or
language minority constitutes less than a majority of the
voting-age population but where this minority, at least
potentially, is large enough to elect the candidate of its
choice with help from voters who are members of the
majority and who cross over to support the minority’s
preferred candidate.
 Influence district: A district where a racial minority or
language minority can influence the outcome of an election
even if its preferred candidate cannot be elected.

Source: Illinois Redistricting Website

 Illinois Redistricting Transparency
and Public Participation Act
 Senate and House of Representatives must each establish a
committee to consider proposals to redistrict the Legislative Districts
or Representative Districts, as applicable
 After every decennial Census
 They have the option of creating a Joint Committee
 Each committee or joint committee must conduct at least 4 public
hearings statewide to receive testimony and inform the public on the
applicable existing Districts
 All hearings must be open to the public.
 The Chairperson of each committee or the Co-Chairpersons of a
joint committee, as applicable, must provide a minimum of 6 days
notice before any proposed hearing,with the Secretary of the
Senate, Clerk of the House, or both, as applicable.

Source: ilga.gov
Guidelines to Drawing District
Boundaries in Illinois
 Districts must be compact when practical
 Districts must have equal population
 Districts must be contiguous
 Districts must not be drawn in ways that violate
state and federal voting rights laws
The Real Deal: Case Studies
Presenter: Aviva Patt
Case Study:1980 Remap
The Project
The Players

Objectives

The Map

The Suit
Gerrymandering Lessons from Home
Examples from Illinois, Cook County and Chicago
What is gerrymandering?
 Gerrymandering is a practice of political corruption that
attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular
party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to
create partisan, incumbent-protected, and neutral districts.
 Used to achieve desired electoral results for a particular party,
or may be used to help or hinder a particular group of
constituents, such as a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class
group.
 Gerrymandering may be used for positive or negative purposes
 Negative Use: To give a party or group of constituents
disproportionate power
 Positive use: in US federal voting district boundaries that produce a
proportion of constituencies with an African-American or other
minority in the majority (these are thus called "minority-majority
districts").

Source: Wikipedia
The History of Gerrymandering The Original Gerry-Mander

First printed in March 1812, this political

cartoon was drawn in reaction to the state
senate electoral districts drawn by the
Massachusetts legislature to favour the
Democratic-Republican Party candidates of
Governor Elbridge Gerry over the
Federalists. The caricature satirises the
bizarre shape of a district in Essex County,
Massachusetts as a dragon. Federalist
newspapers editors and others at the time
likened the district shape to a salamander,
and the word gerrymander was a blend of
that word and Governor Gerry's last name.

Source: Wikipedia
 Packing and Cracking

 The two aims of gerrymandering are to

maximize the effect of supporters' votes and to
minimize the effect of opponents' votes.
 Packing-Concentrates as many voters of one type
into a single electoral district to reduce their
influence in other districts.
 Cracking-spreads out voters of a particular type
among many districts in order to deny them a
sufficiently large voting bloc in any particular
district.

Source: Wikipedia
 The ABC’s of Gerrymandering
How Gerrymandering can influence electoral
results on a non-proportional system.
Example for a state with 3 equally sized
districts, 15 voters and 2 parties: Plum (squares)
and Orange (circles).

In (a), creating 3 mixed-type districts yields a

3–0 win to Plum — a disproportional result
considering the state-wide 9:6 Plum majority.

In (b), Orange wins the urban district while Plum

wins the rural districts — the 2-1 result reflects
the state-wide vote ratio.

In (c), gerrymandering techniques ensure a 2-1

win to the state-wide minority Orange party.

Source: Wikipedia
Congressional District 4

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IL04_109.gif
Congressional District 15

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IL-15_congressional_district.gif
Congressional District 17

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IL17_109.gif
Cook County Districts

Source: Cook County Clerk

City of Chicago Ward Map

Source: http://thesixthward.blogspot.com
Further Information
 Questions regarding this presentation and ways you
may get involved may be addressed to

Valerie F. Leonard
Co-Founder
Lawndale Alliance
773-521-3137
valeriefleonard@msn.com