McHenry Times

Republican state Rep. Martin McLaughlin of Barrington says the Democrats in Springfield acted unlawfully when drawing up maps for redistricting.

“The official 2020 decennial counts released by the U.S. Census Bureau last week confirm that the Democrats’ redistricting plan violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law, as well as comparable provisions of the Illinois Constitution,” McLaughlin posted on Facebook.

Republican lawmakers have long complained about what they see as the Democrats’  “closed room,” partisan method of assembling the “unusable and unlawful” population estimates they hope will ultimately serve to keep them in power.

“The maps that were drawn by Illinois Democrats in a closed room and without public input and signed by Gov. Pritzker have proven to be unusable and unlawful given the release of the U.S. Census data,” House Republican Leader Jim Durkin told the Sun-Times.

Having joined Durkin in filing a federal suit seeking to have the maps declared unconstitutional, Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) argues the situation never had to reach this point. 

“Despite bipartisan pleas to wait for the Census number[s] like 48 other states, Illinois Democratic politicians that were led by Gov. Pritzker ignored the voting rights of their own constituents in an attempt to hold absolute power for another decade,” McConchie said in a statement.

Faced with meeting a June 30 deadline in a year where the collection of data has been slowed by the ongoing COVID pandemic, Democrats came to rely on estimates from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey in pushing through their redistricting plan. Had the deadline passed without action, an eight-person bipartisan panel would have been assembled to take on the task of redrawing the maps.

Despite the objections of Republican lawmakers, Pritzker later signed the three maps outlining new boundaries for districts for the General Assembly, the Illinois Supreme Court and the Cook County Board of Review into law.

Republicans have also blasted Pritzker for reneging on a vow he made as a candidate to veto any maps drawn along partisan lines.

“By breaking his promise and signing this map that has now been proven to be widely inaccurate, Governor Pritzker once again sided with political insiders against the people of Illinois,” McConchie said.