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")[1][2][3] is an amendment to the Illinois Constitution that abolished multi-member districts in the Illinois House of Representatives and the process of cumulative voting.[4] Before the amendment, the Illinois General Assembly was divided into 59 legislative districts, each of which elected one senator 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 and members were elected from single-member districts formed by dividing the 59 Senate districts in half. The movement to pass the bill was largely led by Democrats Pat Quinn and Harry Yourell.[5]

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.[6] It amended Article IV, Sections 1, 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Illinois.[1]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ilga1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference ISOSHORA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "OFFICIAL VOTE Cast at the GENERAL ELECTION NOVEMBER 4, 1980" (PDF). www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  4. ^ "Cutback Amendment". Illinois Issues. November 1980. Archived from the original on 2008-05-16. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  5. ^ Schaller, Robert. "The 'Cutback Amendment' and diversity in the House". Illinois Issues. Sangamon State University. pp. 9–10. ISSN 0738-9663.
  6. ^ "Illinois drives to revive cumulative voting". April 21, 2006. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved 2010-06-20.