With support for fair maps in the Illinois General Assembly, a hungry electorate and a national conversation on gerrymandering, is the Land of Lincoln finally ready to change its own backwards mapmaking?

The little-known legislative rules that govern the legislative process in the Illinois House of Representatives give the House speaker extraordinary power to orchestrate the legislative or political outcomes he or she wants. Those rules allow the speaker to influence the makeup of legislative committees; how lawmakers vote; and when, if ever, the bills get voted...