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After reviewing the General Assembly’s proposed maps to ensure
they align with the landmark Voting Rights Act, Governor JB
Pritzker signed three new maps that reflect Illinois’ diversity.
The maps outline new districts for the General Assembly,
Illinois Supreme Court and Cook County Board of Review and
preserve minority representation in Illinois’ government in
accordance with the federal Voting Rights Act.
“Illinois’ strength is in our diversity, and these maps help to
ensure that communities that have been left out and left behind
have fair representation in our government,” said Governor JB
Pritzker. “These district boundaries align with both the federal
and state Voting Rights Acts, which help to ensure our diverse
communities have electoral power and fair representation.”
A landmark achievement of the civil rights movement, the Voting
Rights Act prohibits practices and procedures that discriminate
on the basis of race, color or membership in a protected
language minority group. Building on and strengthening that
consequential law, the Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011
ensures redistricting plans are crafted in a way that preserves
clusters of minority voters if they are of size or cohesion to
exert collective electoral power. The maps signed into law today
meet those requirements to adequately preserve minority
representation and reflect the diversity of our state.
The district boundaries also account for population changes in
the state, particularly in the regions that saw the most
population loss as recorded by U.S. Census’ American Community
Survey. In addition, the General Assembly held more than 50
public hearings statewide.
Detailed summaries of each individual House and Senate district,
including communities of interest, geographic descriptions, and
demographic data were adopted by both the Illinois House of
Representatives and the Illinois Senate and are contained in
House Resolution 359 and Senate Resolution 326 respectively.
The General Assembly Redistricting Act of 2021 (HB 2777), the
Judicial Districts Act of 2021 (SB 642) and the Cook County
Board of Review Redistricting Act of 2021 (SB 2661) take effect
immediately.
[Office of the Governor JB Pritzker]
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