Earlier this week, the two Republican leaders on redistricting efforts from the Senate and House sent a letter to Gov. Pritzker, asking that he or a high-level member of his administration testify at a joint Redistricting Committee meeting scheduled for April 19. State Sen. Jason Barickman and State Rep. Tim Bulter specifically want to know if Gov. Pritzker plans to keep a campaign promise regarding the drawing of legislative maps.
When he was a candidate for Governor in 2018, JB Pritzker pledged to veto any legislative map that was in any way drawn by politicians. When a Springfield reporter asked: “Will you pledge as governor to veto any state legislative redistricting map proposal that is in any way drafted or created by legislators, political party leaders and/or their staffs or allies?”, Pritzker replied, “Yes, I will pledge to veto. We should amend the constitution to create an independent commission to draw legislative maps, but in the meantime, I would urge Democrats and Republicans to agree to an independent commission to handle creating a new legislative map.”
As redistricting committees and public hearings continue for the new map, I am continuing to advocate for Senate Bill 1325, which would place the map-drawing responsibilities in the hands of an independent commission. If you agree that our redistricting system is broken, I encourage you to sign my petition in favor of an independent commission in lieu of a politician-led process.