Lawmakers have data options for redistricting, experts say
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[March 18, 2021]
By Peter Hancock
Capitol News Illinois
phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD – Two national experts on
reapportionment and redistricting told an Illinois Senate panel on
Wednesday that there are a variety of options at the state’s disposal
besides using detailed census data to redraw the state’s congressional
and legislative district maps.
Ben Williams and Wendy Underhill, both of the nonpartisan National
Conference of State Legislatures, briefed the Senate Redistricting
Committee about the basics of the redistricting process and what options
states have to using census data.
Using data other than the Census may be necessary this year because the
COVID-19 pandemic, combined with a number of natural disasters in
various parts of the country in 2020, forced delays in the Census
Bureau’s work. Although the numbers needed to draw congressional
districts are scheduled for release in late April, the detailed,
block-level data that states use to redraw their legislative district
maps won’t be available until late September.
Census blocks are the smallest geographic units used by the Census
Bureau for tabulating populations.
Williams noted that Illinois faces a number of unique challenges. First,
he said, the state constitution sets an early deadline of June 30 in the
year following the census to approve a set of maps. If lawmakers go past
that deadline, the process is handed to a bipartisan legislative
commission to draw the maps.
The second challenge, he said, is that the state’s congressional and
legislative primaries are in early March, one of the earliest primary
dates in the country, so maps must be completed in time for potential
candidates to know what district they live in so they can circulate
petitions to get their names on the primary ballot.
“First, not all states have the opportunity to use an alternative data
source because quite a few states say explicitly in their constitution
that they must use the decennial census data,” she said. “But (Illinois)
is not in that group. It is in the group where the constitution is
silent about what the data source would be. So this may be something you
would think about.”
Underhill said none of the options available are perfect.
“And if any of them were great, then all of the states wouldn’t be so
anxious to wait for the census data, they’d go ahead and use some other
source to start with,” she said.
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Wendy Underhill, redistricting expert with the
National Conference of State Legislatures, provides a Senate
committee with a primer on redistricting laws and the status of the
2020 census. (Credit: Blueroomstream.com)
Among the options at Illinois’ disposal, she said, is to use
population estimates from the Census Bureau’s American Community
Survey. That survey is conducted every year, but Underhill noted
that the Census Bureau compiles rolling five-year estimates that
provide the kind of block-level data that can be used for
legislative districts.
Another option, she said, is to use the Census Bureau’s 2020
population estimates for Illinois, although those do not provide
block-level detail.
Other options, she said, include asking the Illinois Supreme Court
for relief due to the unusual nature of the 2020 census. Lawmakers
also could pass legislation moving back the candidate filing
deadlines and the date of the primary election.
Still another option, she said, is what some people are calling the
“two-step.” That would involve drawing maps based on data that is
known to be inaccurate, and then coming back for a special session
after the detailed census numbers are released to make adjustments.
But Republican Sen. Jason Barickman, of Bloomington, said he had
significant concerns about using anything other than official census
numbers.
“To me, that is the single most important thing that we need to
address,” he said. “I’m already concerned that the use of faulty
data risks violation of the Equal Protection Clause (of the U.S.
Constitution), the Voting Rights Act, and jeopardizes the very
principles that I believe both sides of the aisle adhere to, whether
that’s supporting communities of interest, protecting racial
minorities and otherwise.”
The committee is planning to hold a series of as many as two dozen
public hearings throughout the state this spring to receive input
from residents about how they think different regions should be
represented. The committee also plans to produce an online web
portal where individuals can try their hand at drawing maps
themselves.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan
news service covering state government and distributed to more than
400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois
Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. |