Sangamon Sun

Another legislative session has came to a close, and Illinois is no closer to an independent redistricting commission. 

Republican lawmakers and advocacy groups have been vocal about the need to take redistricting out of the control of the Democratic machine. A glimmer of hope that Gov. J.B. Pritzker might have been on board with the possibility of an independent commission was squashed when he broke his campaign promise to veto any map made by politicians. 

"What we've seen reported over the last 24 hours is exactly what I've been talking about in committees for the last six weeks," said state Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) in a May 7 news conference. 

Butler is the Republican spokesperson for the House Redistricting Committee. 

"This room right back here is the secret room behind closed doors where maps get drawn," Butler said. "The public is not allowed in. We talked about it for weeks on end and that's exactly what is happening, is maps are being drawn back there in private with politicians picking the people they are going to represent."

Illinois will be losing one of its 18 congressional districts during the remapping after the 2020 U.S. Census confirmed that the state is losing population. 

The state also suffers from a long history of gerrymandering. 

"We have told everybody this is going to happen [...]," Butler said. "This is absolutely what people don't want to see: politicians picking the people they represent."

A map must be approved by the governor by the end of June. If it isn't, Democrats lose power over the redistricting and the task is passed off to an independent commission. 

According to The Pantagraph, the GOP is hoping that the Democratic majority will choose to wait until August to make maps when more complete U.S. Census data is available.