Media Center

The divide between New York's good-government groups over a proposed change to the redistricting system came into stark focus on Tuesday: One announced a lawsuit opposing the language of the ballot measure that will be put before voters this fall; the other held a teleconference to build support for its approval.

A Syracuse Post-Standard editorial criticized New York state’s Board of Elections for using “independent” in the official ballot language describing a proposed commission to redraw legislative lines after each census.

The Cap Times of Wisconsin published an editorial urging state legislature candidates to take Common Cause Wisconsin’s pledge to support unbiased redistricting. Common Cause Wisconsin is publishing a list of candidates who voice their support for a redistricting proposal that would take the partisan politics out of the process for drawing legislative boundaries.

The New York State Board of Elections approved language on August 1 that describes a November ballot measure as creating an “independent” commission on legislative redistricting. Common Cause New York criticized the language as confusing and misleading because the leadership and appointees of the legislature would make appointments to the proposed commission that will then draw the legislators’ districts.

A federal judge ordered Florida officials today to redraw the state's congressional districts in time for the 2014 election.

House Speaker Michael Madigan scored a major court victory on Friday for the state’s power brokers. But if you look deeply, there’s a clear silver lining for the people of Illinois. Two proposed state constitutional amendments, one to impose term limits on legislators and the other to wring politics from the state’s legislative redistricting process, were tossed off the November ballot after a Cook County judge ruled them unconstitutional.