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 When Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch’s staff huddled
recently with Democrats to review early drafts of the House district maps in the
bowels of the Capitol, it was a page out of the old playbook.
“Meeting with members is nothing new,” Welch’s spokeswoman Jaclyn Driscoll told
WCIA news. “In fact, the room we’re talking to members in is actually the same
we met in 10 years ago. This is and will remain a transparent process.”
Transparent, but privately behind closed doors?
Gov. J.B. Pritzker long promised to veto any gerrymandered maps, including
earlier this year. On the campaign trail in 2018, Pritzker supported an
amendment to Illinois’ constitution to take the redistricting process out of
state legislators’ hands and instead send it to an independent commission.
“We should amend the constitution to create an independent commission to draw
legislative maps, but in the meantime, I would urge Democrats and Republicans to
agree to an independent commission to handle creating a new legislative map,”
Pritzker said in 2018.
But the governor recently flip-flopped on the veto promise, saying he trusted
lawmakers to create a fair map.
U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, led the chorus of boos.
“Gov. Pritzker lied to the people of Illinois, plain and simple,” Davis said.
“When he was a candidate for governor in 2018, Pritzker made an ironclad promise
to voters that he would veto any redistricting proposal that was drawn by
legislators.”
The U.S. and Illinois constitutions require district maps be redrawn every 10
years with the latest census data determining representation. The COVID-19
pandemic has delayed those census numbers, so the maps presented to Illinois
House Democrats were based on estimates.
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While Republicans have called for Democrats to wait
until it becomes available before drawing the maps, data will not be
released until after the constitutional deadline of June 30 for the
legislature to send a map to the governor for approval. Data is not
expected until late September.
Welch’s office offered assurances the public will have the necessary
time to review the proposed maps and offer feedback before the final
lines are drawn.
“Our bipartisan Redistricting Committee has worked tirelessly to
ensure all voices are heard,” Driscoll said. “We’ll continue to
listen, gather, and analyze input from the public and we strongly
encourage participation from everyone.”
Although Illinois Senate President Don Harmon recently promised
“inclusion” and called “for room at the table,” early indications
point to business as usual as Democrats run a hurry-up offense in an
effort to draw new congressional maps without added input from
Republicans.
If the General Assembly cannot pass a redistricting bill, there is
an eight-member backup redistricting commission with four members
from each party. If that group cannot agree, a tiebreaker is drawn
that could give either party the power to sway the maps.
Three of the past four redistricting cycles saw that come to pass,
leading to a winner-take-all mapping process. Both parties have
drawn maps to their advantage when they had the ability.
The way to end that is to join 14 other states with independent
mapping commissions. That is, if lawmakers and Pritzker are truly
serious about killing the Illinois gerrymander.
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