Sangamon Sun

House Republicans want the decades of gerrymandering in Illinois to end. 

There was hope that would occur when Gov. J.B Pritzker said during his campaign that partisan maps presented to him would not be accepted, opening the opportunity for a long-awaited independent commission of Illinois residents to redistrict the state rather than politicians.

With Pritzker having changed his mind to support the Democratic-led state Legislature to build the maps, Republicans discussed the upcoming legislative remapping of the state's 118 House and 59 Senate districts. 

"It's how you're represented," Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) said. "You get drawn in a district, and that's the person that represents you for the next 10 years."

Gerrymandering has adverse impacts on the minority populations that Democrat legislators claim to represent. In a redistricting hearing, Illinois State Conference NAACP President Teresa Haley said that the redistricting process has been manipulative to the minority community so far. 

"Every voice is important," Haley said. "The NAACP is opposed to so many things, such as packing and stacking and cracking, and we've seen it over and over again."

Butler said that drawing the new legislative borders in a nonpartisan way is important and that the people of Illinois should pick their politicians, not the other way around.

"The people had spoken several years ago," Butler said. "They wanted a constitutional amendment [...] to take it out of the hands of politicians and draw the maps through a nonpartisan commission. That's the best way to make sure that the people are represented."

A fair mapping process would bring more balance to a General Assembly that has seen multiple corrupt politicians in recent years, according to Butler, both balance in demographics and Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature. 

The House GOP launched a campaign, Reimagine Illinois, to fight the long history of gerrymandering and corruption that trails the Democratic majority.