Reforming Government

Working to promote functional government that is ethical in its behavior and responsive to the people is another one of the Institute's goals. To that end the Institute has been involved in several initiatives:

Fair Map Amendment

The Institute supported and worked for the passage of the Illinois Fair Map Amendment which would take the power to draw legislative districts away from the legislature itself and into the hands of a nonpartisan commission.

This is a necessary step to put an end to the gerrymandering that robs many Illinois residents and citizens around the country of true choice in who represents them in Congress and their state legislatures.

Illinois Reform Commission

In order to clean up Illinois government, the Institute supported, and Director McMillan participated in, the efforts of the Illinois Reform Commission. The commission was created by Governor Pat Quinn and led by former Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins.

Movement to end Cumulative Voting for Peoria City Council

The way city council voting is done in Peoria puts a ceiling on the number of minority candidates that can win seats. It is confusing and impractical because voters must pick 5 at-large councilmen to represent the whole city in addition to one councilman each for the five districts the city is divided into.

In addition, voters each get 5 votes to distribute among the at-large candidates any way they like (2 for candidate A and 3 for candidate B; 5 for candidate A and 0 for candidate B, etc.). The original intent of this system was to give minorities more representation on the council but it has clearly failed in its mission. IPL issued a report to the Peoria City Council on the topic with a recent poll showing 71 percent of respondents favor getting rid of the cumulative voting system. It's time for a change.