[Thread] Bad news for fair elections in Illinois. GOP could now win a state Supreme Court majority in 2022 & use it to impose unfair redistricting maps under guise of "nonpartisanship." GOP could then win legislative majorities even if Dems win more votes by roughly 10% overall!
https://twitter.com/Taniel/status/1326176709461352448
Illinois' Supreme Court has a 4-3 Dem majority, but federal courts have never held that "one person, one vote" applies to judicial redistricting, & the districts are badly malapportioned after 5 decades. Dem-leaning District 2 has 2x as many people as GOP-leaning Districts 4 & 5 
Now that a Dem incumbent lost retention election in District 3, it'll have a partisan 2022 election in a seat that Trump won in 2016. GOP could flip it to gain control of court if Dems don't win partisan election for District 2, where a GOP incumbent will face voters for 1st time
https://twitter.com/PoliticsWolf/status/1326241449298460672
Without extreme malapportionment in Illinois' Supreme Court districts, District 3 could've backed Clinton by several points in 2016 & Biden this year, which would make it much easier for Dems to win the pivotal 2022 election for this seat. Dems can & should redraw the districts
IL is a rare state where white-flight racial segregation creates a big geography penalty against Dems without their gerrymanders, which merely negate it. Dems could win popular vote by 10% yet fail to win majority of districts under this hypothetical nonpartisan congressional map
If GOP flips Illinois' Supreme Court, they could strike down Dems' congressional/legislative maps to impose "nonpartisan" maps like this that are functionally no different than GOP gerrymanders in terms of popular vote/seat disparities. This would be a disaster for fair elections
https://twitter.com/PoliticsWolf/status/1326243444881121281
Of course it isn't ideal that Illinois has Dem gerrymanders, but the alternative of "nonpartisan" maps that let GOP win power with a 10% popular vote loss is worse.
IL needs reforms like proportional representation that don't penalize the party supported by Black/Latino voters
IL needs reforms like proportional representation that don't penalize the party supported by Black/Latino voters
Illinois' current Dem gerrymanders only negate the geography penalty against them, & GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner won 58% of state House districts when he won by 4% in 2014. Mean-median test shows no Dem edge. This point seems unbelievable to GOP but it's true docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
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