Chicago City Wire

Latino Policy Forum senior external affairs director Roberto Valdez is hoping the once-in-a-decade map redistricting can set things as he believes they should be. 

“Policies made for communities must be made with communities,” Valdez said during a recent redistricting forum hosted by the Illinois Muslim Civic Coalition. “Elected officials should understand their constituents and also look like their constituents.”

With U.S. Census Bureau officials having recently shared that data generally provided by the government as part of the map redistricting process won’t be ready before a June 30 deadline, a growing number of Republican lawmakers are now calling for sweeping changes to the system in the name of making it a fairer process.

More and more of them see Senate Bill 1325, also known as the People’s Independent Maps Act, as the answer. The measure would 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.  

With the system now allowing the party in power to control the map redistricting process, Democrats stand to call all the shots by virtue of controlling the House, Senate and Governor’s Office.

In this role at Latino Policy, Valdez manages and coordinates the organization’s legislative portfolio for federal, state, and city initiatives. Valdez also serves as manager of the Illinois Latino Agenda, billed as “a collaborative effort among Latino organizations that seeks to promote accountability in business, government, the private sector and within the Latino community by leveraging their collective voice and influence.”