Put an end to gerrymandering

Thank you for finally shedding some much-needed light on the redistricting mess. A foolproof solution to this problem would be a very simple amendment to the Illinois Constitution. Article IV, Section 3 (a) states that “Legislative Districts shall be compact, contiguous and substantially equal in population.” The same is true for congressional districts.

One would think that language would suffice for the Supreme Court to reject the egregious gerrymandering that has been taking place, but unfortunately it has not worked out that way. The easiest and most foolproof method of solving this problem would be to add the following language after the above quote from the Constitution: “No boundary for any district shall be more than twice the distance from the geographic center of the district than any other boundary.” This would provide a precise definition of the word “compact” and virtually eliminate the possibility of any significant gerrymandering.

A petition with 298,399 signatures of registered voters (8 percent of votes for governor in 2010) would be required to get this simple amendment on the 2014 ballot.

Roland G. Ley

Arlington Heights