Coalition for Political Honesty v. State Bd. of Elections

• Decision Date: 01 December 1980
• Docket Number: No. 53774,53774
• Citation: 47 Ill.Dec. 363,83 Ill.2d 236,415 N.E.2d 368
• Parties: , 47 Ill.Dec. 363 COALITION FOR POLITICAL HONESTY et al., Petitioners, v. The STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS et al., Respondents.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 368

415 N.E.2d 368

83 Ill.2d 236, 47 Ill.Dec. 363

COALITION FOR POLITICAL HONESTY et al., Petitioners, v. The STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS et al., Respondents.

No. 53774.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 1, 1980.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 29, 1981.

William T. Barker, Jeffrey E. Schiller, Matthew A. Flamm and Thomas W. Dressler, of Sonnenschein, Carlin, Nath & Rosenthal, and Robert W. Bergstrom, of Bergstrom, Davis & Teeple, Chicago, for petitioners.

Tyrone C. Fahner, Atty. Gen., Chicago (Saul J. Morse, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Springfield, and William P. Ryan, Acting Gen. Counsel, State Bd. of Elections, Chicago, of counsel), for respondents State Board of Elections, and Members Thereof.

Andrew M. Raucci, Chicago, for respondents David Mendel Patt and Jeff E. Bruner.

PER CURIAM:

On August 11, 1980, leave was granted petitioners, the Coalition for Political Honesty, the Committee for Legislative Reform, Patrick J. Quinn, George C. Townsend, Jane M. Brayton and Stanley C. Johnson, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, to file this original action seeking a writ of mandamus directing the State Board of Elections (Board) to certify a proposed constitutional amendment for submission at the November 4, 1980, general election. The Board and its members, and David Mendel Patt and Jeff E. Bruner, who filed an objectors' petition with the State Board of Elections, were named as respondents. Because of a September 4 deadline (Ill.Rev.Stat.1979, ch. 1, par. 104, and ch. 46, par. 10-14) for certifying proposed constitutional amendments to the county clerks and boards of election commissioners, we expedited briefing, heard oral argument on August 25, and announced on September 2 that the writ should issue, indicating that an opinion explaining the reasons therefor would be filed at a later date. This is that opinion.

Our constitution (Ill.Const.1970, art. IV, sec. 1) provides: "The legislative power is vested in a General Assembly consisting of a Senate and House of Representatives elected by the electors from 59 legislative districts." Section 2 of article IV provides that one senator and three representatives shall be elected from each of those districts, and that in elections for representatives "each elector may cast three votes for one candidate or distribute them equally among no more than three candidates." Section 3 of article XIV, relating to constitutional revision, provides:

"Section 3

. CONSTITUTIONAL INITIATIVE FOR LEGISLATIVE ARTICLE

Amendments to Article IV of this Constitution may be proposed by a petition signed by a number of electors equal in number to at least eight percent of the total votes cast for candidates for Governor in the preceding gubernatorial election. Amendments shall be limited to structural and procedural subjects contained in Article IV. A petition shall contain the text of the proposed amendment and the date of the general election at which the proposed amendment is to be submitted, shall have been signed by the petitioning electors not more than twenty-four months preceding that general election and shall be filed with the Secretary of State at least six months before that general election. The procedure for determining the validity and sufficiency of a petition shall be provided by law. If the petition is valid and sufficient, the proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors at that general election and shall become effective if approved by either three-fifths of those voting on the amendment or a majority of those voting in the election.

Pursuant to the provisions of section 3 of article XIV, petitioners in 1979 commenced circulating a petition proposing the following constitutional amendment:

PETITION FOR AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

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* * *

We, the undersigned, being qualified electors of the State of Illinois who have affixed our signatures in our own proper person to this Petition subsequent to January 1, 1979, do hereby petition, pursuant to Section 3 of Article XIV of the Constitution of the State of Illinois, that there be submitted to the qualified electors of this State, for adoption or rejection at the General Election to be held on Tuesday, the Fourth Day of November, A.D. 1980, in the manner provided by law, a proposition to amend Sections 1, 2, and 3 of Article IV of the Constitution of the State of Illinois, the amended Sections and the Transition Schedule applicable thereto to read as follows:

Section 1. Legislature -- Power and Structure

The legislative power is vested in a General Assembly consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives, elected by the electors from 59 Legislative Districts and 118 Representative Districts.

Section 2. Legislative Composition

(a) One Senator shall be elected from each Legislative District. Immediately following each decennial redistricting, the General Assembly by law shall divide the Legislative Districts as equally as possible into three groups. Senators from one group shall be elected for terms of four years, four years and two years, Senators from the second group, for terms of four years, two years and four years, and Senators from the third group, for terms of two years, four years and four years. The Legislative Districts in each group shall be distributed substantially equally over the State.

(b) Each Legislative District shall be divided into two Representative Districts. In 1982 and every two years thereafter one Representative shall be elected from each Representative District for a term of two years.

(c) To be eligible to serve as a member of the General Assembly, a person must be a United States citizen, at least 21 years old, and for the two years preceeding his election or appointment a resident of the district which he is to represent. In the general election following a redistricting, a candidate for the General Assembly may be elected from any district which contains a part of the district in which he resided at the time of the redistricting and reelected if a resident of the new district he represents for 18 months prior to reelection.

(d) Within thirty days after a vacancy occurs, it shall be filled by appointment as provided by law. If the vacancy is in a Senatorial office with more than twenty-eight months remaining in the term, the appointed Senator shall serve until the next general election, at which time a Senator shall be elected to serve for the remainder of the term if the vacancy is in a Representative office or in any other Senatorial office, the appointment shall be for the remainder of the term. An appointee to fill a vacancy shall be a member of the same political party as the person he succeeds.

(e) No member of the General Assembly shall receive compensation as a public officer or employee from any other governmental entity for time during which he is in attendance as a member of the General Assembly.

No member of the General Assembly during the term for which he was elected or appointed shall be appointed to a public office which shall have been created or the compensation for which shall have been increased by the General Assembly during that term.

Section 3. Legislative Redistricting

(a) Legislative Districts shall be compact, contiguous and substantially equal in population. Representative Districts shall be compact, contiguous, and substantially equal in population.

(b) In the year following each Federal decennial census year, the General Assembly by law shall redistrict the Legislative Districts and the Representative Districts.

If so redistricting plan becomes effective by June 30 of that year, a Legislative Redistricting Commission shall be constituted not later than July 10. The Commission shall consist of eight members, no more than four of whom shall be members of the same political party.

The Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives shall each appoint to the Commission one Representative and one person who is not a member of the General Assembly. The President and Minority Leader of the Senate shall each appoint to the Commission one Senator and one person who is not a member of the General Assembly.

The members shall be certified to the Secretary of State by the appointing authorities. A vacancy on the Commission shall be filled within five days by the authority that made the original appointment. A Chairman and Vice Chairman shall be chosen by a majority of all members of the Commission.

Not later than August 10, the Commission shall file with the Secretary of State a redistricting plan approved by at least five members.

If the Commission fails to file an approved redistricting plan, the Supreme Court shall submit the names of two persons, not of the same political party, to the Secretary of State not later than September 1.

Not later than September 5, the Secretary of State publicly shall draw by random selection the name of one of the two persons to serve as the ninth member of the Commission.

Not later than October 5, the Commission shall file with the Secretary of State a redistricting plan approved by at least five members.

An approved redistricting plan filed with the Secretary of State shall be presumed valid, shall have the force and effect of law and shall be published promptly by the Secretary of State.

The Supreme Court shall have the original and exclusive jurisdiction over actions concerning redistricting the House and Senate, which shall be initiated in the name of the People of the State by the Attorney General.

TRANSITION SCHEDULE

This Amendment shall take effect the day following its passage and shall govern the Primaries and the General Election to be held in 1982 and thereafter.

We further petition that, to the extent permitted by law, said proposition shall be submitted on a separate Blue Ballot and that the proposition and the explanation thereof shall be printed thereon in substantially the following terms:

PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO SECTIONS 1,...