Today, Governor JB Pritzker’s actions speak louder than his broken promises.
Since becoming a candidate for governor, JB Pritzker promised voters over and over again that backroom map-making deals were done, that he would support an independent commission to draw maps, and that he would veto partisan maps. After breaking his promises on independent maps, failing to endorse Fair Maps constitutional amendments with widespread bipartisan support, and reneging on his pledges to veto partisan maps, Pritzker wasted no time signing into law partisan maps that erase nearly 42,000 Illinoisans. The American Community Survey data used to create Illinois House and Senate maps undercount Illinoisans and do not give them representation. That is not fair by any definition. Pritzker can continue to hope that voters have widespread amnesia, but we know Illinoisans deserve more credit than that.
Why is it that the governor and supermajority lawmakers are waiting for full census data to draw congressional districts, but they will not even attempt to do the same for our state house and senate districts? They are fooling no one.
As was evident from the final redistricting hearings and statements issued in response to the Illinois General Assembly’s map proposals, diverse communities across the state -- representing Black, Latinx, Asian-American, Muslim, Jewish, elderly, young, urban, and rural -- rejected these maps. These maps do not give us equitable representation for the next 10 years. These maps signed by Gov. Pritzker simply do not reflect the community input so many Illinoisans tried repeatedly to give to their elected officials.
CHANGE Illinois and its partners will continue to assess all options available to ensure communities across our great state are not disenfranchised for another decade at the expense of self-interested partisan power plays.