Sangamon Sun

Republican state Rep. Tim Butler sighs lawmakers in Springfield have a unique opportunity to honor the will of the people with map redistricting.

“Because of the delay in the census data this year, we have a wonderful opportunity to reimagine how we draw maps here in Illinois,” Butler (R-Springfield) said during a recent GOP news conference to highlight redistricting. “For far too long, both parties have not been able to draw the maps the way that the people have wanted, and in 2016, almost 600,000 Illinoisans signed onto having a constitutional amendment on the ballot that was thrown out by the Supreme Court.”

Butler said the Republican-pushed People’s Independent Maps Act offers legislators an opportunity to do what some voters have expressed.

With Census Bureau data typically used to draw the maps not expected to be available before a June 30 deadline, the measure would give the state Supreme Court the power to appoint 16 independent citizen commissioners to a redistricting commission within 30 days of passage.

The commission’s members would be an equal split of Democrats and Republicans, with no sitting lawmakers.

“This legislation that is being introduced today has broad bipartisan support,” Butler said. “This is a great opportunity to join together and do what the people want us to do — create maps in a fair manner. This is something we need to do to make us accountable to the people.”

Butler called on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to stand by his word in the process, recalling that while still a candidate, Pritzker vowed to sign off on any map legislation that lawmakers created.

“The governor needs to be held to his word about an unfair map and many in the legislature need to be held to their word,” he added. “This isn’t fair to the people of Illinois to use incomplete data.”

The redistricting process in most states is lead by the majority legislative party, however, it is not uncommon for the minority party to try to change the process to have more influence over the outcome.