Sangamon Sun

A Logan County-area Republican activist sees the recent redistricting hearings as an opportunity for voters to fight for nonpartisan-drawn legislative maps.

"I would like to think most citizens would prefer fair maps based on the outpouring of support previously displayed," Republican activist Melanie Blankenship told the Sangamon Sun.

The State House Redistricting Committee conducted 23 public hearings this month, the last one Saturday morning in Carbondale.

Attendance at those meetings hasn't been good, largely because of short notice, and that hasn't gone unnoticed, Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) told the Will County Gazette earlier this month.

"Witness after witness has been critical of the lack of transparency in this process," Rezin said. "That includes requests for more robust public engagement, more notice of hearings and for answers on how the public can draw their maps and what data we should be using."

Transparency was far from a priority, Marko Sukovic, a Republican who in 2018 ran for the Illinois House of Representatives District 59 seat, said in a Medium op-ed piece published April 5.

"Don't feel bad if you didn't hear much about this process, almost nobody has," Sukovic said. "Even top-ranking officials in the Lake County Clerk's office didn’t know about it until I called them as recently as last week to give them the 'heads up.'"

The pressure over redistricting is high on multiple fronts.

Under Illinois' Constitution, state lawmakers must pass a new legislative map by June 30 of the year following the U.S. Census, which was in 2020. If that doesn't happen, an eight-person bipartisan panel is supposed to be created to draw the map. Should that group be locked in a tie, Illinois' Secretary of State would choose a ninth member to break the tie.

The new legislative maps, ostensibly, are supposed to be based on U.S. Census data but that data isn't expected to be ready this year until September because of the pandemic.

Despite those COVID-driven realities, Illinois state House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch (D-Hillside) told WCIA News last week that new maps will be drawn and put on the governor's desk  by the June 30 deadline, warding off a bipartisan commission.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said for years he would not support a partisan-drawn map but WCIA wondered aloud whether Pritzker will keep that promise.

"The map-making process in Illinois must be fair and transparent," State House Rep. Jackie Haas (R-Bourbonnais) posted April 5 to her Facebook page. "Polls have shown that more than 75% of Illinois voters support an independent process that puts citizens in control of drawing election districts instead of politicians. We need your help to make this happen! Please engage in the process."