Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is railing against voter suppression—in Texas. He’s grandstanding on late-night TV as he hosts Democratic lawmakers fleeing the Lone Star State to block GOP redistricting efforts. But if he’s serious about democracy, Mr. Pritzker should start at home, where his state has its own form of voter suppression: Illinois holds local elections in February during off-cycle years, which keeps turnout low and helps insiders cling to power.

This voting schedule is a deliberate strategy to rig elections. By holding municipal elections in the frigid cold and during nonfederal years, incumbent politicians minimize turnout. Chicago’s last mayoral election was held in February 2023, with a runoff in April. The average mayoral turnout is about half that of presidential elections in Chicago.

Off-cycle voting in Illinois was born out of post-Civil War nativism, later embraced during the Progressive era by elites who favored “good government” reforms that also happened to reduce immigrant political power. In Illinois, February election dates were codified in the Cities and Villages Act of 1872, adopted by Chicago in 1875.

Read more at Wall Street Journal