Sangamon Sun

State Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) claims voters are being kept in the dark about Democrats’ latest map-making plans.

“I don’t see anyone here that isn’t from the media and looking at witness slips, we don’t have any,” Butler said during the Oct. 14 House Redistricting Committee hearing in Springfield. “Though, Chairman Aquino said they were looking at sub-circuits for counties with 150,000 or above, the two hearings we have today are counties that have 150,000 or above — Sangamon and Peoria. Is it the intention of majority to not only draw new sub-circuit maps for the circuits that have sub-circuits or is the majority also looking at counties that don’t have sub-circuits yet?”

Butler’s concerns about the public not having a voice on issues like their counties becoming sub-circuited largely went unaddressed, with Democratic state Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez only responding, “I would have to check.”

Butler argues that response alone should tell residents everything they need to know.

“If it is the majority’s intention to sub-circuit counties that are currently not sub-circuited that is going to be a travesty," Butler said. "If this is the intention of the majority, this needs to have a much more intensive process – more engagement from the judiciary – from those counties. I’m really concerned when we go back into session, all of the sudden, out of the blue, we are going to see sub-circuit maps for counties that are not sub-circuited and you are going to continue to drive this change across the state that you would like to see and the governor would like to see, not only in the legislature but in the judiciary.”

Butler has recently responded to Democratic lawmakers' re-opennig of a portal in which visitors can submit their own proposed legislative maps. 

“The sad truth is that this is just another attempt by Democrats to act like this is a free and fair process, but the facts have proven otherwise,” Butler said in a post to his website. “The relaunching of a portal that included a multitude of malfunctions that went unaddressed by them before. I don’t expect much to be different this time around.”