Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has signed off on new district maps that the administration says better align with Illinois's diversity and preserve minority representation in government.
On Friday, June 4, the Pritzker administration sent out a press release confirming that the governor had approved the new maps proposed by the General Assembly.
According to officials, the new maps were made with the goal of preserving minority representation in government, following the standards of the federal Voting Rights Act.
“Illinois’ strength is in our diversity, and these maps help to ensure that communities that have been left out and left behind have fair representation in our government,” Pritzker said. “These district boundaries align with both the federal and state Voting Rights Acts, which help to ensure our diverse communities have electoral power and fair representation.”
The administration says that the maps also account population changes, particularly in regions that saw notable population loss.
Opponents, such as many Republicans and activist groups that are against the change, say that the administration should have waited to receive the official U.S. Census data, instead of data from the American Community Survey and public hearings. The release of the census data was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In response, Democrats argue that the maps must be complete by June 25, before the census date comes in, due to a provision in the Illinois Constitution that says the legislature is required to produce the new maps by June 30, or else the project goes to a bipartisan commission. Historically, each time the redistricting has gone to this commission phase, it went to a deadlock and was decided by a partisan tiebreaker whose name was drawn from a hat.
