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Cutback Amendment
The Cutback Amendment (formally named the "Size of State House of Representatives Amendment"; and also known as both "Amendment 1" and the "Legislative Article") is an amendment to the Illinois Constitution that abolished multi-member districts in the Illinois House of Representatives and the process of cumulative voting. Before the amendment, the Illinois General Assembly was divided into 59 legislative districts, each of which elected one senator and three representatives. In state house elections, voters could vote three times for one candidate or spread their votes between two or three candidates. When the Cutback Amendment was approved in 1980, the total number of House representatives was reduced from 177 to 118; members were now elected from single-member districts formed by dividing the 59 Senate districts in half. The movement to pass the bill was largely led by Pat Quinn and Harry Yourell. The amendment was passed via a referendum and popularly seen as a way to punish ...
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Illinois Constitution
The Constitution of the State of Illinois is the governing document of the state of Illinois. There have been four Illinois Constitutions; the fourth and current version was adopted in 1970. The current constitution is referred to as the "Constitution of Illinois of 1970" or less formally as the "1970 Constitution." The document is still referred to as the "Constitution of Illinois of 1970" even though there have been amendments to it after 1970. Important features of the 1970 Constitution include the creation of home rule powers for larger municipalities and other units of local government. Summary The 1970 Constitution has a preamble and 14 articles. Article 1 is a bill of rights and contains similar provisions as the United States Bill of Rights, such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. It also contains items not included in the United States Constitution like section 18, which prohibits discrimination based on sex and section 19, which prohibit ...
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Illinois House Of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representatives elected from individual legislative districts for two-year terms with no limits; redistricted every 10 years, based on the 2010 U.S. census each representative represents approximately 108,734 people. The house has the power to pass bills and impeach Illinois officeholders. Lawmakers must be at least 21 years of age and a resident of the district in which they serve for at least two years. President Abraham Lincoln began his career in politics in the Illinois House of Representatives. History The Illinois General Assembly was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The candidates for office split into political parties in the 1830s, initially as the Democratic and Whig parties, until the Whig candidates ...
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Cumulative Voting
Cumulative voting (also accumulation voting, weighted voting or multi-voting) is a multiple-winner method intended to promote more proportional representation than winner-take-all elections such as block voting or first past the post. Cumulative voting is used frequently in corporate governance, where it is mandated by some (7) U.S. states ''(''see e.g., ''Minn. Stat. Sec. 302A.111 subd. 2(d).)''. History Cumulative voting was used to elect the Illinois House of Representatives from 1870 until its repeal in 1980 and used in England and Scotland in the late 19th century to elect some school boards. As of March 2012, more than fifty communities in the United States use cumulative voting, all resulting from cases brought under the National Voting Rights Act of 1965. Among them are Peoria, Illinois for half of its city council, Chilton County, Alabama for its county council and school board, and Amarillo, Texas, for its school board and College Board of Regents. Courts sometimes ...
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Illinois General Assembly
The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. , the current General Assembly is the 102nd. Under the Illinois Constitution, since 1983 the Senate has had 59 members and the House has had 118 members. In both chambers, all members are elected from single-member districts. Each Senate district is divided into two adjacent House districts. The General Assembly meets in the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Its session laws are generally adopted by majority vote in both houses, and upon gaining the assent of the Governor of Illinois. They are published in the official ''Laws of Illinois''. Two future presidents of the United States, Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama, began their political careers in the Illinois General Assembly–– in the Illinois House of Represe ...
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Illinois Senate
The Illinois Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state, State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the Constitution of Illinois, Illinois Constitution of 1970, the Illinois Senate is made up of 59 State senator, senators elected from individual legislative districts determined by population and redistricted every 10 years; based on the 2020 U.S. census each senator represents approximately 213,347 people. Senators are divided into three groups, each group having a two-year term at a different part of the decade between censuses, with the rest of the decade being taken up by two four-year terms. This ensures that the Senate reflects changes made when the General Assembly redistricts itself after each census. Usually, depending on the election year, roughly one-third or two-thirds of Senate seats are contested. On rar ...
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Pat Quinn (politician)
Patrick Joseph Quinn Jr. (born December 16, 1948) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 41st governor of Illinois from 2009 to 2015. A Democrat, Quinn began his career as an activist by founding the Coalition for Political Honesty. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Quinn is a graduate of Georgetown University and Northwestern University School of Law. Quinn began his career as a tax attorney in private practice before working as an aide to then-Illinois Governor Dan Walker. He was elected to one term as a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Appeals, serving from 1982 to 1986; he later served as revenue director in the administration of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. Quinn served as Treasurer of Illinois from 1991 to 1995. In Illinois' 2002 gubernatorial election, Quinn won the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois in the primary and was paired with then-U.S. Representative Rod Blagojevich in the general election. He was sworn into office a ...
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Harry Yourell
Harry "Bus" Yourell (February 19, 1919 – September 19, 2011) was an American politician. Yourell was born in Hammond, Indiana on February 27, 1919. He attended high school in Chicago and La Salle Extension University. During World War II, he served in the United States Marine Corps and was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. After the war, Yourell moved to Oak Lawn, Illinois and opened Bus' Drive In. From 1959 to 1963 he served as a Trustee for the Village of Oak Lawn. He was involved with the Worth Township Regular Democratic Club and at the time of his election to the Illinois House of Representatives was the Democratic Committeeman of Worth Township. In 1966, Yourell was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives as one of three members from the 6th District. The district at that time included all of Worth Township and Calumet Township, and portions of Stickney and Thornton townships. During his time in the House, he was the Chair of the Joint Committee on Ad ...
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Sangamon State University
The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) is a public university in Springfield, Illinois. The university was established in 1969 as Sangamon State University by the Illinois General Assembly and became a part of the University of Illinois system on July 1, 1995. As a public liberal arts college, and the newest campus in the University of Illinois system, UIS is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. UIS is also part of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the American Council on Education. The campus' main repository, Brookens Library, holds a collection of nearly 800,000 books and serials in addition to accessible resources at the University of Illinois Chicago and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campuses. The University of Illinois Springfield serves 4,198 students (Fall 2022) with 56 bachelor's degrees, 39 minors, 44 master's degree, 1 doctorate degree, 37 graduate certificates and coursework that leads to 6 ISBE endors ...
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1980 Illinois Elections
Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 4, 1980. Primaries were held on March 18. Election information Turnout Turnout in the primary election was 43.50%, with a total of 2,493,518 ballots cast. 1,321,810 Democratic and 1,171,708 Republican primary ballots were cast. Turnout during the general election was 78.14%, with 4,868,623 ballots cast. Federal elections United States President Illinois voted for Republican ticket of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. This was the fourth consecutive election in which the state had voted for the Republican ticket in a presidential election. United States Senate Incumbent Democrat Adlai Stevenson III, did not seek reelection. Democrat Alan J. Dixon was elected to succeed him. United States House In a January 22, 1980 special election for Illinois's 10th congressional district, Republican John Porter captured what had previously been a Democratic-held seat. All of Illinois' 24 congressional seats were up for r ...
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1970 Illinois Elections
Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 3, 1970. Primaries were held on March 17, 1970. Additionally, on December 15, 1970, a special election was held in which Illinois voters voted in support of adopting a new proposed state constitution. Election information 1970 was a midterm election year in the United States. Turnout Turnout in the primary election was 29.88%, with a total of 1,570,317 ballots cast. 819,692 Democratic and 750,625 Republican primary ballots were cast. Turnout during the general election was 69.90%, with 3,731,006 ballots cast. 2,017,717 people cast ballots in the December 15 special election regarding the proposed new Illinois constitution. Federal elections United States Senate A special election was held to fill the remainder of the term of Republican Everett Dirksen, who had died in office. Republican Ralph Tyler Smith had been appointed to fill the seat after Dirksen's death, and he lost the special election to Democrat Adlai Steven ...
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Jim Edgar
James Edgar (born July 22, 1946) is an American politician who was the 38th governor of Illinois from 1991 to 1999. Previously he served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1976 to 1979 and as Illinois Secretary of State from 1981 to 1991. Though still popular, he surprised many by retiring from elected office after his second term as governor, claiming that heart problems he had during his tenure as governor were not a factor in his decision. Political life Illinois House of Representatives A Republican, Edgar was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1976 and re-elected in 1978. Illinois Secretary of State In April 1979, Edgar resigned his state House seat to accept an appointment from Governor Jim Thompson as his legislative liaison. In early 1981, when then-Secretary of State Alan Dixon moved to the U.S. Senate, Thompson named Edgar to fill the vacancy. He won the office on his own in 1982 and 1986 and served until 1991. Governor of Il ...
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Abner Mikva
Abner Joseph Mikva (January 21, 1926 – July 4, 2016) was an American politician, federal judge, lawyer and law professor. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Mikva served in the United States House of Representatives representing Illinois's 2nd congressional district (1969–1973) and 10th congressional district (1975–1979). He was appointed as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by President Jimmy Carter, serving from 1979 to 1994. He served as the White House Counsel from 1994 to 1995 during Bill Clinton's presidency. In his later career, Mikva taught at the University of Chicago Law School, the Georgetown University Law Center and the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. He mentored future President of the United States Barack Obama and future United States Attorney General Merrick Garland (who also succeeded him on the D.C. Circuit) during their early years in law. In 2014, Obama honored ...
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