(Editor's note: This story has been updated).
EAST ST. LOUIS - Against great odds a computer assigned judges who live in St. Clair and Jackson counties to redistricting suits from those counties, and flipped the assignments when they recused themselves.
The computer first picked District Judge Stephen McGlynn for the St. Clair County action and Senior District Judge Phil Gilbert for the Jackson County action.
Neither judge cared to preside over his own territory, so the computer had to run random assignments again.
It gave Jackson County’s map to McGlynn and St. Clair County’s map to Gilbert.
McGlynn further scrambled the situation on Aug. 18, recusing himself from the Jackson County action.
Attorney Paul Evans of O’Fallon sued both county boards on Aug. 11, seeking declaratory judgment that they violate the U.S. Constitution.
He claims they created districts according to census estimates when they should have waited for official results.
He claims the Census Bureau warned that its estimates weren’t a viable alternative for official counts.
He further claims that even if the estimates proved accurate, population variations among districts would violate the Constitution.
He attached county board resolutions showing population variations from 8,599 to 9,475 in St. Clair County, and 8,002 to 8,885 in Jackson County.
In both complaints he wrote, “It is possible to draw county board districts with substantially less deviation under the guidelines imposed by Illinois law.”
In the St. Clair County suit, he represents board member Ed Cockerell and county Republican chair Cheryl Mathews.
In the Jackson County suit, he represents six individuals and the county Republican central committee.
The series of assignment coincidences resulted from random computer selection, district court clerk Margaret Robertie said on Aug. 19.
She said the computer didn’t have the usual option of first assigning a magistrate judge to each case as it would for regular civil suits, because magistrate judges have no jurisdiction over declaratory judgment.
Magistrate judges preside over regular suits only if all parties consent.