Draft:1954 Illinois legislative apportionment amendment

Legislative Apportionment Amendment
Results
Yes >90% 80–90% 70–80% 60–70% 50–60%	No 80–90% 70–80% 60–70% 50–60%

The 1954 Illinois legislative apportionment amendment was a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment in the state of Illinois voted on as part of the 1954 Illinois elections.

Background

Campaign

The amendment, initially thought to be controversial, had a successful campaign with a broad base of support.^[1]^: iv

The campaign for the amendment was conducted in three phases. After the amendment's passage through the legislature, supporters of the amendment worked to organize campaign organizations and find institutional support. Secondly, those campaign organizations and institutional supporters ran a voter education campaign in favor of the amendment. Finally, supporters held many publicity events in the days leading up to the election.^[1]^: iv

Support

The campaign in favor of the amendment was led by the Illinois Committee for Constitutional Revision, an organization which had previously attempted to call constitutional conventions in 1947 and 1949. Though their efforts at a convention were unsuccessful, they had backed the 1950 gateway amendment, which made the process for approving future constitutional amendments easier.^[a]^[1]^: 1

Opposition

Results

Legislative Apportionment Amendment^[2]
Option	Votes	% of votes on measure	% of all ballots cast
Yes	2,085,224	79.87	60.35
No	525,502	20.13	15.21
Total votes	2,610,726	100	75.56
Voter turnout	49.37%

Notes

^ Prior to the gateway amendment, amendments required an absolute majority of votes cast in the election to pass. Additionally, only one amendment could be listed on the ballot in each election. After the passage of the gateway amendment, either an absolute majority of votes cast or a two-thirds majority of votes on the amendment would be sufficient for the amendment to pass, and three amendments could be voted on each election, instead of only one.^[1]^: 1

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Juergensmeyer, John E. (September 1957). The Campaign for the Illinois Reapportionment Amendment. Urbana: Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois.
^ "Official Vote of the State of Illinois". Illinois State Board of Elections. 1954. Retrieved December 6, 2023.

[2] Prior to the gateway amendment, amendments required an absolute majority of votes cast in the election to pass. Additionally, only one amendment could be listed on the ballot in each election. After the passage of the gateway amendment, either an absolute majority of votes cast or a two-thirds majority of votes on the amendment would be sufficient for the amendment to pass, and three amendments could be voted on each election, instead of only one.^[1]^: 1

[campaign-for-the-1] Juergensmeyer, John E. (September 1957). The Campaign for the Illinois Reapportionment Amendment. Urbana: Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois.

[il-1954-certified-results-3] "Official Vote of the State of Illinois". Illinois State Board of Elections. 1954. Retrieved December 6, 2023.

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