From the Peoria Journal Star

Gerry Mandering makes voting meaningless for many

Sunday, October 31, 2004
By JIM NOWLAN
With the presidential race and most congressional and state legislative races in Illinois already conceded to one party or the other, there is not much reason to get hepped up about voting in Illinois this November.
First, President George Bush and his advisers have already conceded Illinois' electoral votes to challenger John Kerry. That's why Prairie State residents haven't seen a barrage of TV ads from the presidential contenders, unless viewers tune in to TV signals that cross state lines, as in the Quad Cities.
Nor, with one exception in Chicago's suburbs, are there any real contests expected for congressional seats in Illinois. Why not: Because, in 2001, the State Legislature turned the job of redistricting congressional seats over to the sitting congressmen and women themselves.
As a result, the incumbents did what any self-respecting politician would do - they drew sweetheart districts for one another. For example, Republican Ray LaHood of Peoria kept all the GOP-heavy territory in his district and bequeathed similarly strong Democratic precincts in his own area to neighbor Democratic Congressman Lane Evans. And Lane returned the favor. Part of Evans' district is just one country road wide, from Springfield to Decatur, where Lane picks up UAW union Democrats there. Instead of voters selecting their congressmen, the congressmen selected their voters.
In our legislature, a similar situation occurs. Most of the 118 House and 59 Senate districts are either safely Democratic or Republican - only a handful have spirited contests. Again, a situation of the incumbents taking care of themselves.
A few real contests can be found. Some counties have some local races. But in my home county of Stark, there are in effect no contests for any other office on the ballot.
Overall, this election is pretty slim pickings for voters who have been led to believe that they matter in a democracy.
So when civic do-gooders renew the cry, as they will, to "get out the vote - it's your responsibility!" the question is why, if there is nothing meaningful to vote on?
We can improve things.
First, the U.S. Electoral College should be reformed to reflect the popular vote for president in each congressional district (19 in Illinois) rather than in each state overall. That way, presidential candidates would have to campaign throughout most of the United States, rather than in just a few states that are toss-ups.
Second, lawmakers should not be allowed to redistrict themselves. In Iowa, state lawmakers turned the job over to a special office with a computer. Non-partisan demographic information is fed to the computer, which spews out rather compact districts that make sense for voters rather than for incumbents.
Finally, even though there will be less to the ballot than meets the eye when you open it, I still strongly urge readers to vote. Even a few contested offices or issues make it worth your while. And it's important to stay in the habit. Who knows? Someday U.S. elections may really take the voter seriously.
Jim Nowlan of Toulon is director of the Civic Leadership Fellows Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana, where he teaches a course on campaigns and elections. A former state legislator, he edits and publishes the Stark County News.