North Cook News

Concentrating voting strength through gerrymandering unlawfully helps one party stay in power, House candidate Katie Miller argues.

The Republican wife and mother hoping to replace retiring Rep. David Harris (R-Arlington Heights) in the 53rd District, which covers Prospect Heights and Mt. Prospect, recently talked to the North Cook News about 15 Illinois Republicans and two Democrats joining a nationwide alliance to end gerrymandering.  

“Gerrymandering affects our democracy,” Miller said. “Districts have changed to draw people out of a district. It has been used by Republicans and Democrats in states, depending on which party is in power. In our state, it is the Democrats, led by Mike Madigan.”

Katie Miller

Harris said Illinois is no different from Wisconsin, where redistricting has led to the Gill v. Whitford case now before the U.S. Supreme Court. It is that case that compelled the bipartisan group of lawmakers to form.

“Our state has suffered due to gerrymandering,” Miller said. “It has undermined our democracy and decreased the voting power of some people in the state. It is used to cancel out the votes of some voters.”

Miller knows firsthand the harm gerrymandering can do.

“My neighborhood used to be part of the 10th Congressional District; now we are part of the Ninth Congressional District,” Miller said. “Looking at the map, my neighborhood is an offshoot of the Ninth. It was changed to decrease the number of Republicans in the district.”

The candidate said she has an answer to concentrated voting districts.

“The Ideal legislative maps would be based on population and be squares or rectangles,” Miller said. “Start on one end of the state and move along using major streets or highways as boundary lines, so it is easy to know where districts begin and end. We need to make this a law as to not allow politicians to rig the system in their favor.”

According to Miller, most residents are not even aware of the problem. 

“People don’t know the district they are in,” Miller said. “You have to look at a map to find what district. That can decrease voter participation. It can also disenfranchise voters believing that their vote does not count.”

Gerrymandering is all about political power, she said.

“It is used to keep politicians and political parties in office,” Miller said. “It is a perfect example of what is wrong in politics today. It should be the people that decide. Also, it needs to be on level ground, not giving one person or party an edge over another.”