Madison County board members adopted a bi-partisan resolution supporting legal action against the state over a new law that divides the county into judicial subcircuits.
It passed 20-2 at a special meeting Jan. 13. Local lawmakers, who were initial sponsors and voted in favor of the bill - Sen. Rachelle Crowe (D-Alton) and Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Collinsville) - declined requests to attend.
The resolution calls for State's Attorney Tom Haine to consider legal action on constitutional grounds because the new law suppresses voters by excluding two-thirds of them from voting at each judicial election.
Haine said there could be a viable lawsuit in part because of the short time frame imposed for its implementation.
On Jan. 5, the state's Democratically controlled legislature passed the bill establishing boundaries within the Third Judicial Circuits: three sub-circuits in Madison County and one in Bond County. While the new law creates subcircuits in other state court systems, the effective date for Madison County is this year's election cycle, while the law takes effect in 2024 for the other court systems.
Haine said that any potential lawsuit would be pursued to "protect the independence of the judiciary" and to "make sure no voting rights are diluted."
The law establishes that for the eight circuit court seats in Madison County, voters in the western Subcircuit 1 will decide the outcome of the next three vacancies; voters in central Subcircuit 2 decide the subsequent three vacancies and voters in eastern Subcircuit 3 the next two vacancies.
That is another aspect of the law that sets Madison County apart from other counties with subcircuits, the so-called "1-1-1, 2-2-2, 3-3" pattern of how the county's eight circuit seats will be decided in three subcircuits, beginning this year. In other systems with subcircuits, elections mostly occur in numerical order.
In effect, it impacts Republican Circuit Judges Chris Threlkeld and Amy Sholar, who are running for two vacancies that, until the law passed, would have been decided by all Madison County voters. Earlier this week, Threlkeld and Sholar announced they would move into in Subcircuit 1, since the law carves them out of contention as residents of Subcircuit 2 and 3 respectively.
Voters who live in Madison County's Subcircuit 3 - which runs from the northwest corner including Godfrey - to the southeast corner including Highland - will not be voting for a judge until the seventh and eight vacancies occur, which could be many years. Vacancies are created when judges retire or otherwise leave the bench, and in Madison County the bench is relatively young.
Board member Mike Walters, Republican from Godfrey, said the law as written disenfrachises two-thirds of Madison County voters each time a judicial election is decided. He said it could be 2030 before anyone in his Subcircuit 3 gets a chance to vote for a judge, who makes decisions affecting all of the county.
"The biggest slap in the face," Walters said, was to Chief Judge Bill Mudge. "They didn't even contact him. They didn't have the common decency."
Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville), who had been asked to attend, said it wasn't just "the Chicago folks" who pushed to get the bill passed.
"There is a group of people involved," he said. "There were people involved from the Metro East, and they weren't the judges. They weren't the court officers. They weren't anyone in this room."
At the meeting's outset, Chairman Kurt Prenzler said that Sen. Crowe sent a representative from her office to attend, but without a speaking role. He also said that the offices of Rep. Stuart and Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Belleville) said they would not be attending.
Plummer, who serves on the Senate Redistricting Committee talked about the process of the bill's passage. He said it wasn't just "run of the mill partisan gerrymandering."
He said the bill hadn't been read by a single member of the Senate.
"This wasn't just done in the dark of night," Plummer said. "Not a single hearing for members of the Senate" or in the House.
"Who drew the map if the Illinois state Senate did not draw the map?" he asked. "Who wrote the bill? Why was it done?"
Board member Chris Guy, Republican from Maryville, said the bill that was rammed through was "sloppy and unprofessional."
He pointed out that the new bill includes boundaries that no longer exist in Madison County, due to legislation that passed earlier in the session increasing precinct population, and giving county clerks 60 days to implement.
"They listed precincts that no longer exist in this county," Guy said. "That's how sloppy this fricking thing is."
The resolution, in part, says: "Under this new law only Madison County citizens face a future where no judge will be elected or retained county-wide, meaning only one-third of the county could elect a judge that have (sic) the right to decide our criminal and civil issues, our divorces, our injury claims, or any legal issue by any citizen of Madison County.
"This system will create new conflicts of interest in Madison County's judicial system, where a subcircuit judge will adjudicate matters between citizens but only one of those citizens will be able to vote on that judge's election or retention."
Democrat board members Victor Valentine and Jack Minner, both from Edwardsville, were the two no votes against the resolution.
Democrats Doc Holliday, Sr. and Bruce Malone, both from Alton, Christopher Hankins of Pontoon Beach and Nick Petrillo of Granite City - all of whom reside in Subcircuit 1 - were absent from the meeting.
Democrats Bill Stoutenborough of Alton, Gussie Glasper of Madison, Elizabeth Dalton of Collinsville, Matthew King of East Alton and Robert Pollard of East Alton voted for the resolution.
Republicans Bill Meyer of Hamel and Ryan Kneedler of Collinsville were absent.