Illinois Valley Times

Veteran state Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) is determined to make all the map redistricting hearings now taking place count in the end.

“In the past, it’s usually been our legislative districts being drawn by politicians,” Rezin told the WGLC. “That’s what’s wrong with the system; politicians are drawing maps according to whichever party is in control as opposed to in a fair manner according to population. We want to make sure that our districts are represented by the population of people who live in the area and not by the politicians who are in charge.”

With U.S. Census Bureau officials saying that the data provided as part of the redistricting process won’t be available before a June 30 deadline, the stakes are as high as ever as they’ve ever been when it comes to the once-in-every-decade task.

No matter what happens, Rezin said residents need to have a voice and that the map-drawing process is as fair as it can be.

“This is a topic that we talk about every 10 years because the party in control always gets to draw the maps,” she said. “We hope this year to have an independent commission instead of politicians. This committee would help us go through the process so that the maps are fair and representative of the people that truly live in that area. It’s important to have an independent commission to take the politics out.”

Democrats are the majority in the House and Senate.

To nullify legislators’ voice in the process, Republican lawmakers proposed the People’s Independent Maps Act as the best way forward in making the process as fair as it can be.

The measure would remove lawmakers from the job of redrawing maps and give the state Supreme Court the power to appoint 16 independent citizen commissioners to a redistricting commission within 30 days of passage.

“We want to make sure this is fair,” Rezin said. “Democrats want to use data, not from the Census Bureau but another model that’s never been used before so they can pass a map by June, not in the best interest of the voter.”