They were from outta town

Lawyers for the Presidential campaign of Gov. Michael Dukakis contacted a non-partisan civic group in 1988 to find out how to obtain a precinct map for the entire state of Illinois.

They were surprised to learn that no such map existed.

They were told that local election authorities, in most cases the County Clerks, possessed precinct maps for their areas and that the local party organizations and individual candidates could easily obtain those.

So, if they wanted to create a statewide precinct map, they were advised to get all those local maps and piece them together.

They said that’s not how things were done in other states. They were told this is Illinois and what happens in other states doesn’t matter.