Peoria Standard

Illinois Republicans are arguing recently released census numbers validate what they’ve been saying all along about the way Democrats drew new legislative maps.

“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,” Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) posted on Facebook.

With data collection slowed by the lingering impact of COVID-19, GOP cries to have Democrats slow the process to acquire the most accurate information essentially went unheard.   

“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,” Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) said in statement. “By breaking his promise and signing this map that has now been proven to be widely inaccurate, Gov. Pritzker once again sided with political insiders against the people of Illinois.”

GOP House Leader Jim Durkin (R-Burr Ridge) went even further, branding the maps “unusable and unlawful given the release of actual Census Bureau data."

Democrats raced to complete the latest maps in light of a June 30 state deadline that would have meant the creation of an eight-person bipartisan panel to construct the maps if the deadline was not met. If that panel proved unable to settle on a new map, a ninth member is randomly chosen by the Illinois secretary of state — giving the Republicans a 50-50 chance of taking over the process.

As part of the process, Democrats relied on estimates from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

Durkin and McConchie recently filed a federal lawsuit against the Democrats and the state Board of Elections over the way the maps were crafted. Republicans also accuse Pritzker of going back on a promise he made while still a candidate to veto any maps drawn along partisan lines.

In their suit, the Republican leaders argue the Democrats robbed “citizens of a fair and transparent legislative map-making process.”

With the next court hearing scheduled for Sept. 22, Republicans are seeking to have the maps declared unconstitutional, suggesting that the process needs to be taken out of the hands of legislators, with either a bipartisan commission or a court-appointed “special master” empowered to handle the job.