Hearings on which of Illinois' congressional districts to cut to be announced

[September 29, 2021]  By Greg Bishop

(The Center Square) – Legislative hearings on which Illinois congressional seat should be jettisoned will soon be announced.

The state is losing a seat in Congress for the next ten years because of population decline.

Lawmakers are set to use the final U.S. Census data released last month to draw new boundaries.

Supermajority Democrats at the statehouse relaunched their online platforms that were used to manage input for legislative maps the governor enacted despite legal challenges.

“The map making portal can be accessed at www.ilsenateredistricting.com and www.ilhousedems.com/redistricting,” said a joint statement from the Illinois House and Senate Redistricting Committees. “The relaunch of the portal comes ahead of a series of public hearings the committees will hold in October to gather input on the makeup of new congressional districts.”

“It’s never been more important that every resident of Illinois has a strong voice in Congress, and that starts with ensuring everyone has a voice in the mapmaking process,” said House Redistricting Committee chairwoman state Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez, D-Cicero. “This mapmaking tool gives everyone the opportunity to share their thoughts and help us create districts that reflect our state.”

Republicans have been critical of Democrats’ handling of the mapmaking process. They’ve filed a lawsuit against maps Democrats drew and then redrew for the statehouse districts. Gov. J.B. Pritzker just enacted those revised maps, despite minority groups saying they’re malapportioned.

State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said the Democrats’ “much-maligned public map-making portal” is “another attempt by Democrats to act like this is a free and fair process, but the facts have proven otherwise.”

“The relaunching of a portal that included a multitude of malfunctions that went unaddressed by them before, I don’t expect much to be different this time around,” Butler said in a statement.