The future of Illinois’ political map remains uncertain as Democrats and Republicans each work to put a different redistricting plan on the ballot in November.
A committee of the Illinois House sent a Democratic redistricting plan to the House floor Tuesday. If the House approves the proposal, which the State Senate passed April 14, citizens will vote on the plan in November’s statewide elections.
Supporters of the Fair Map Amendment, a citizen initiative with strong support from Republicans, hope their initiative will be on the ballot as well. The group behind the initiative will continue to collect signatures through today, according to a group leader.
Both plans seek to amend the current redistricting method in Illinois, which both parties say is flawed. The plans differ, however, in who would draw Illinois’ political boundaries.
Under the Democratic plan, drafted by redistricting chairman Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-13th), redistricting would remain in the hands of Illinois legislators. A new map would need only a simple majority to pass.
Supporters of the Fair Map Amendment, sponsored primarily by the League of Women Voters of Illinois, say the Democratic plan is a way to keep incumbents, most of whom are Democrats, in power. Mary Schaafsma, issues and advocacy coordinator for the League, said incumbents have a 98 percent re-election rate since the last map was drawn in 2001.
“We want redistricting to be more open to public input and debate,” she said.
The Fair Map Amendment calls for an “independent commission” that would take charge of redistricting. Four legislative leaders, two from each party, would each appoint two members to the commission, and the eight members would then vote on a ninth member. Schaafsma said the amendment is very specific on who can and cannot be in the commission.
“They can’t be elected officials, and they can’t work in the government,” she said. “We really want to limit the commission and take redistricting out of the hands of the legislators.”Raoul said the nine-member commission proposed by the Fair Map Amendment has its limits, however.
“They said they want to enhance the power of the citizens when it comes to redistricting, but by putting redistricting in the hands of a small group, that does the exact opposite,” he said.
The state constitution calls for redistricting after every federal census. Based on the census data, legislators redraw the political maps and change district lines to account for population changes. The constitution sets a June 30 deadline for the General Assembly to file an approved map. If that deadline isn’t met, Senate and House leaders choose members for a redistricting commission, consisting of both General Assembly members and non-members. If this eight-person commission fails, the task of redistricting falls to an official randomly chosen by the Illinois secretary of state.
The random selection of one redistricting official was probably intended to be a last resort, but it hasn’t worked out that way, said state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg (D-9th).
“Over the past few censuses, however, it has become commonplace instead,” said Schoenberg, whose district includes Evanston.
Schoenberg said he voted in favor of the Democratic plan for redistricting because it emphasizes maximizing the representation of citizens-particularly minority groups-while the Fair Map Amendment does not.
The Democratic plan did not receive any Republican Senate votes. The House does not have a Democratic three-fifths majority, so Democrats need Republican support to pass the plan.
Supporters of the Fair Map Amendment need 288,000 valid signatures by May 3 to put their plan on the ballot; they had collected about 120,000 as of two weeks ago, Schaafsma said. They will stop collecting signatures today to leave enough time to determine if they have enough to file to be placed on the ballot, she said.[email protected]
