Chicago City Wire

Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community (CBCAC) Executive Director Grace Chan McKibben worries that the work being spurred by Democrats in Springfield toward map redistricting may be causing more harm than good.

“The legislative map that was released by the Senate and House Redistricting Committee on May 21 leaves many questions unanswered,” McKibben said during a recent redistricting hearing that was posted to YouTube.

McKibben isn’t alone in taking exception to the process. Many Republican lawmakers contend all the work has been done behind closed doors with only the interests of Democratic legislators being taken under consideration.

"Throughout the redistricting hearings, we heard over and over again how the people wanted more transparency in the process," veteran state Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) wrote in a May 10 Facebook post. "Meanwhile, Democrats have been meeting behind closed doors to review secret drafts of the map. As I recently said on Flannery Fired Up, this is NOT transparency. The people should pick their elected officials, instead of having their elected officials pick them behind closed doors."

While the once-every-decade job of map redistricting typically falls to the party in charge, Republicans had hoped for a fairer process this cycle given U.S. census Bureau data usually relied on in drawing the maps isn’t expected to be available by an end-of-June deadline.

The Illinois constitution states that lawmakers and the governor have until June 30 to approve a map. If that deadline is missed, an eight-member bipartisan commission must be formed with four members from each party to finish redrawing the districts by Aug. 10.

With the stakes being as high as they are, new House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Westchester) has vowed that the public will have a chance to review the proposed maps and offer input before the process officially ends.