Sangamon Sun

Nonpartisan map advocates have lost another battle in Springfield where Democratic lawmakers are moving forward with politically-driven legislative maps despite the state's long history of gerrymandering. 

State Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) is the Republican spokesperson for the House Redistricting Committee; last week he said that maps are being drawn in a secret room behind closed doors.

"Maps are being drawn back there," Butler said while gesturing behind him in the Statehouse. "In private, with politicians picking the people that are going to represent them. That's what we've been saying for a long time and that's what's happening right now. We have told everybody this was going to happen and as we've seen this is exactly what's happening."

Butler is frustrated that he's been speaking up about this for six weeks as the Redistricting Committee has met. 

"This is absolutely what people don't want to see," the representative said. "Politicians picking the people they represent."

Earlier in the year opponents of politically-driven maps were hopeful that an independent bipartisan commission would be introduced this time to take over the redistricting process after Gov. Pritzker promised during his campaign to veto any map drawn by politicians, but Pritzker later backpedaled on that promise. 

Gerrymandering has long skewed how Illinoisans are represented and has stifled minority voices at the same time. In a Redistricting Committee public hearing last month, Illinois State Conference NAACP President Teresa Haley warned that redistricting in Illinois has been manipulative to the minority community. 

"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."