Will County Gazette

State Rep. Jackie Haas (R-Kankakee) is warning that Democrats still haven't learned their lesson in the ongoing saga over the latest Illinois' legislative maps were passed at a special session on Aug. 31.

Based on the latest U.S. Census information, the new maps, which Gov. J.B. Pritzker is expected to approve, have drawn fire from Republicans, Blacks and Latinos in particular, according to ABC7. The House voted 73-43 along party lines to send them to the governor's desk, the Daily Chronicle reported.

"Instead of shifting responsibility to a bipartisan commission to draw the new legislative redistricting map, Democrats have fallen back on the same disingenuous process that produced the initial flawed maps last spring that now need to be re-done,” Haas posted on Facebook. “Over the last week, ‘hearings’ were held that were nothing short of a sham, a disingenuous effort that was intended to merely check a box, not to collect any real input from community groups on what the new map should look like.”

Haas isn’t the only GOP lawmaker saying that they’ve had enough.

State Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore) is now demanding that Gov. J.B. Pritzker honor a pledge he made while still a candidate to veto an map drawn along partisan lines.

“Moments ago, the House voted 73-43 along party lines to pass the Democrats’ partisan-drawn maps for the State of Illinois,” Keicher posted on Facebook. “I share the sentiments Leader Jim Durkin (R-Burr Ridge) expressed tonight. Politicians should not be drawing maps. Period. I join those urging Governor Pritzker to stand by his campaign promise and veto this bill.”

Haas argues now that lawmakers are back in Springfield and after Democrats had vowed to make adjustments, nothing has changed.

“Today, upon our return to Springfield for special session, the Democrats once again dropped two new versions of the legislative maps in the last 24 hours, giving advocacy groups— and lawmakers — almost no time to review or give feedback. The most recent map was dropped just a few hours ago. This isn’t a genuine or transparent process the people of Illinois deserve, it’s a blatant power grab by the Democrat majority. I voted no; politicians should not be drawing maps.”

The most recent vote came after Pritzker signed a similar redistricting measure into law earlier this year, resulting in lawsuits from Republican lawmakers and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, according to The Chronicle. They argue the maps are “flawed and unconstitutional because they were based on population estimates from the American Community Survey rather than the 2020 census.”

Typically, lawmakers have relied on Census Bureau data to complete the job of redistricting, but with the release of 2020 data significantly slowed by the impact of COVID-19, Democrats used the American Community Survey data this cycle to meet the guidelines of a June 30 deadline mandated in the state constitution.

Failure to meet the deadline would have automatically led to the creation of an eight-person, bipartisan commission to complete the job with a ninth person to be randomly selected to break any deadlocked votes.