Prairie State Wire

As things stand, Change Illinois Executive Director Madeleine Doubek can’t see how the new maps now being drawn by Democrats have any chance of offering a clear snapshot of the state.

“The maps unveiled on Friday night are built on old, flawed data that never was meant to be used for redistricting,” Doubek said during a recent hearing on the issue posted to YouTube. “The ACS (American Community Survey) data misses 41,871 people. That’s more than one-third of a House district. These are real people whose representation matters.”

Doubek isn’t alone in worrying that the once-every-decade job of redistricting may not come close to fulfilling its mission this time around.

While the task of map redistricting typically falls to the party in charge, Republicans had hoped for a fairer process this cycle given U.S. Census Bureau data, usually relied on in drawing the maps, isn’t expected to be available by an end-of-June deadline.

The Illinois constitution states that lawmakers and the governor have until June 30 to approve a map. If that deadline is missed, an eight-member bipartisan commission must be formed with four members from each party to finish redrawing the districts by Aug. 10.

Through it all, Democrats have continued to push forward, including weighing using the ACS data.

Doubek has long been a critic of the process, recently blasting what she sees as the state’s long-held practice of gerrymandering as “as a form of voter suppression.”

Speaking during a recent League of Women Voters event, Doubek pressed lawmakers to come together to draw state voting maps in a way that is truly reflective of the state’s makeup.

“We need to end gerrymandering together,” she said in a video posted to YouTube. “It is going to be a challenge. It has been a challenge for many years. Gerrymandering literally steals our voices and our choices.”

Republican lawmakers are now pushing proposed legislation known as the People's Independent Maps Act as the only solution. The measure would completely remove lawmakers from the job of redrawing maps and give the state Supreme Court the power to appoint 16 independent citizens to a redistricting commission within 30 days of passage.