Illinois politics might be shaped for the next 10 years by the proposed state Senate and House district boundaries made public last week.
Following every Census, governments at various levels must redraw the boundaries of legislative districts to account for shifts in population. The Illinois General Assembly has been working on redrawing the Illinois map for the past few months, and proposed maps from both of the state’s legislative bodies came out last week. The Illinois Senate and House Redistricting Committees held hearings Saturday and Sunday, respectively, to receive feedback on legislative redistricting maps. The Senate map was released on Thursday and the House map late Friday, leaving little time to dissect the maps before the pre-scheduled weekend hearings.
The new maps have drawn criticism from some politicians, however, especially regarding the transparency process.
State Rep. Mike Fortner (R-West Chicago) said the late release left many advocacy groups in a difficult position. Although Fortner was on the House Redistricting Committee, he did not take part in creating the new map. House and Senate Democrats on their respective redistricting committees created maps alone, forgoing a bipartisanship effort.
“The House map came out late Friday afternoon without any supporting demographic information for the public,” Fortner said.
Based on the Census data, legislators redraw the political maps and change district lines to account for population changes. The state 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, comprised 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.
In the past three decades, the tie-breaker has been needed.
New proposals to reform the redistricting process were discussed last year. The League of Women Voters of Illinois sponsored the Fair Map Amendment, which would create an independent commission in charge of redistricting. The idea was to take the process out of the hands of legislators so that no one will draw maps in favor of their party. The proposal failed to pass.
At the Sunday hearing on redistricting, “a lot of people testified that they were not aware that they could get supporting data by asking for it in writing, but even that data doesn’t tell the whole story,” Fortner said.
The lack of easily accessible information on the Illinois maps has raised the question of whether or not the new map is in compliance with the Voting Rights Act, meant to eliminate discriminating voting practices. One reason given for redistricting after the Census is to create districts that allow for proper minority representation.
In both the House and Senate maps, Hispanic and Asian groups saw an increase in representation, while African-American representation decreased. Both Asian and Hispanic groups each gained one seat in the Senate and three seats in the House. African-American groups kept the same number of seats in the Senate but lost two in the House.
However, state Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) said the maps and their creation process comply with state and federal laws, with district boundaries that reflect demographic shifts.
“You can anticipate that there will be those who don’t like their district boundary or represent a certain advocacy group who didn’t get what they want,” Lang said. “The map process is simply a bill that writes maps for the state of Illinois.”
He said this does not mean choosing one party over another, noting there are also solidly Republican districts as a product of the redistricting.
For the first time under the current state constitution, ratified in 1970, one party has the coveted position of having control over the Senate, House and Governor’s Office during the redistricting process. This puts the Democrats at an advantage in pushing through their version of the political map; potentially, the map could stand no contest.
Keesha Gaskins from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law said Illinois State law does not authorize state House or Senate district lines to be redrawn until the next Census, meaning map legislators choose now would influence Illinois politics for the next 10 years.
For redistricting to occur between Censuses, “either the United States government or private parties could file a lawsuit about a redistricting plan if it violates Section II of the Voting Rights Act,” Gaskins said, though there are “no legal implications” with partisan redistricting.
Leah Rush, executive director of Midwest Democracy Network, an alliance of civic organizations, said more easily accessible information would address some of the issues presented by both the House and Senate redistricting maps.
“All of these state coalitions are really looking for a more meaningful dialogue and a less partisan process,” Rush said. “We don’t know when we will see it; we are hoping they provide access.”
On a local level, Evanston will see a slight change in representation in the House, based on the House map released Friday, with three representatives instead of two.
Rep. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston), who currently represents a small part of northwest Evanston, will gain a larger portion of the city for his district. Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) will gain a small section of south Evanston and Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston), who represents the majority of Evanston, will see a decrease in her district.
The last redistricting hearings are scheduled for Tuesday in Springfield. The new maps must be approved by the end of the month.
