Organizers of a new drive to change how leaders decide which state lawmakers you elect are pushing to collect more than 328,000 signatures to get the issue on next year's ballot.
And longtime advocates for election reform are split on the so-called Fair Maps proposal.
Former Republican Congressman Ray LaHood and longtime Democratic operative Bill Daley rolled out the Fair Maps plan back in August.
It would change the state Constitution to tighten the criteria for drawing boundaries for legislative districts, but it would stop short of handing the job to an independent commission.
Kathy Cortez from the League of Women Voters says her group wishes an independent commission was on the table, but this is a good first step.
"We have to start someplace," Cortez told WBBM Newsradio. "With any piece of legislation, you don't always get everything you want."
The League of Women Voters is joining forces with the Fair Maps group to help collect petition signatures. "Once we have an amendment to our Constitution, we can continue to press legislators," Cortez said.
Ryan Tolley from the group called CHANGE Illinois says his group also wants to end partisan gerrymandering of legislative districts in Illinois, but this new effort left out a number of grass-roots organizations that have fought for years against racial and other gerrymandering.
"If they're not involved ... it presents a challenge for us," said Tolley. "We've seen this process work ... and it doesn't work."
Tolley also says he doesn't believe the proposal will do what its advocates promise, because it still leaves the business of drawing districts in the hands of elected leaders.