Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) says “we don’t want politicians’ involved in redistricting process. | Photo Courtesy of Rodney Davis
Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) says “we don’t want politicians’ involved in redistricting process. | Photo Courtesy of Rodney Davis
An Illinois Republican congressman is joining GOP legislators' calls to strip the redistricting process for politicians in favor of a group of citizens.
Rep. Rodney Davis' (R-Ill.) comments came during a recent Illinois House hearing as the state continues to press forward with the required legislative redistricting.
"We don't want politicians, Republican politicians either picking their districts," Davis said at a recent House hearing focused on what would be the best way forward in handling the once-every-decade task of map redrawing.
"We want voters picking who they elect," Davis said. "But we do believe there is a much fairer process."
The "fairer process" Davis and other Republicans have called for is the GOP's People's Independent Maps Act legislation.
In March, Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) proposed the latest legislation version that Republicans have quickly rallied behind that would remove lawmakers from the map-redrawing process for 2021.
The bill would replace legislators with a state Supreme Court-appointed 16-member citizen's commission to lead the redistricting process. The legislation would bar politicians, state employees and lobbyists from being members.
Redistricting is necessary after each decennial census to adjust for population changes within district boundaries for the Illinois House and Senate.
However, this time, it has become more complicated because census officials said that the data used to redistrict would not be available by the June 30 deadline.
Republicans are using the extra time to garner support for their independent map plan that they say is more transparent and fair.
Former House Republican candidate Marco Sukovic is among those supporting the idea while demanding more transparency in the process.
"What is the underlining data set that's going to be used to do the redistricting," Sukovic wrote in an April Medium article. "Is it going to be the U.S Census Bureau, or is it going to be some amalgamation of American Community Service (ACS) data. In my research, as it relates to the quality of U.S. Bureau data, nothing comes close to it."
Historically, redrawing district lines is headed by the majority party. In Illinois, Democrats control the House and Senate.
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