A group that mounted a $3 million effort to ask voters this fall to take politics out of the redrawing of legislative boundaries dropped its effort Friday, hours after a Cook County judge tossed the proposed constitutional amendment from the Nov. 4 ballot.
Judge Mary Mikva’s ruling proved to be the death blow to the drive by the Yes for Independent Maps organization, which already had been under pressure to prove to the State Board of Elections that it had obtained nearly 300,000 valid signatures from voters to secure a fall ballot spot.
“We have concluded that we are not going to proceed in this election cycle,” said Deborah Harrington, the group’s chair. “Instead, we will put the lessons learned in this campaign and from the judge’s ruling to good use.”