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Easy fix for Illinois map mess

The new Illinois congressional remap, devised by the Democrat-controlled General Assembly, looks like cutouts prepared and pasted into place by kindergarten children. It’s so bizarre, it’s comical. That is, if it weren’t so pathetic.

How could Illinois law permit the controlling political party to redraw congressional districts with the specific purpose of derailing the opponent party’s train? Hey, General Assembly, you’ve got a job on your hands: Rewrite the remap statute so that every 10 years the new districts are redrawn fairly and intelligently.

The solution is so simple. Require the new districts to be redrawn according to existing township boundaries. Merely add or subtract intact townships in the remap process.

Take DuPage County for example. There are nine townships nicely drawn in an almost checkerboard pattern. How easy it would be to redraw such a map. And one more thing: Require a bipartisan committee to add or subtract townships to fit redraw requirements.

No more allowing a controlling party to gerrymander voting districts with the sinister purpose of tossing monkey wrenches into the other party’s election machinery.

Joe Schrantz

Villa Park

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