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 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 "Constit ...

that abolished multi-member districts in the

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 re ...

and the process of

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 ...

. Before the amendment, the

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 181 ...

was divided into 59 legislative districts, each of which elected one

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

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 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, h ...

. The amendment was passed via a referendum and popularly seen as a way to punish the legislature for voting to give itself a 40% raise. It amended Article IV, Sections 1, 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Illinois.

Passage

Voters approved the measure by referendum on November 4, 1980. In order to be approved, the measure required either 60% support among those specifically voting on the measure or 50% support among all ballots cast in the 1980 Illinois elections. Ultimately, the threshold of 60% among those voting on the measure was met. Alongside the Sale of Tax Delinquent Property Amendment, it became one of the first two amendments adopted following the 1970 passage of the revised Constitution of Illinois.

Calls for repeal

Since the adoption of the Cutback Amendment, there have been proposals by some major political figures in Illinois to bring back multi-member districts. A task force led by former governor

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 ...

and former federal judge

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' ...

issued a report in 2001 calling for the revival of cumulative voting, in part because it appears that such a system increases the representation of racial minorities in elected office. The Chicago Tribune editorialized in 1995 that the multi-member districts elected with cumulative voting produced better legislators. Others have argued that the now-abandoned system provided for greater "stability" in the lower house.

References

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 ...

Illinois General Assembly 1980 Illinois ballot measures Illinois General Assembly elections {{illinois-stub