South Central Reporter

All eyes are on Gov. J.B. Pritzker as one of his largest campaign promises approaches time to be acted upon. 

As a candidate for governor in 2018, Pritzker pledged to veto any legislative district map that was created by lawmakers or political party leaders, and now Republicans are watching closely to see if Pritzker will stick to his word as Democrats move forward with using incomplete Census data to get the new map done before the June 30 deadline. 

State Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Pawnee) is one of those GOP lawmakers waiting to see Pritzker's next move. 

In an April 12 report from WCIA News, Bourne said that if Pritzker doesn't intend on following through on his pledge "he needs to come out and say that now, so that the legislature knows that this is a fool's errand to keep going with this redistricting process in a partisan way," Bourne said. 

Republican legislators have made proposals including the People's Independent Maps Act and the Fair Maps Act as an alternative to the partisan mapmaking process. Bourne is not the only lawmaker upset as the process continues forward in Springfield. State Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) encouraged her Democratic colleagues to slow down and listen to voters. 

"There's no need to rush and pass maps with inaccurate data by June 30 when the real constitutional deadline is not until October," Rezin said according to the Will County Gazette. "Witnesses have said, repeatedly, we need to use the delay on the census data as an opportunity to make this process better, an opportunity to truly engage the citizens of the state and allow better participation."

If the legislature can't get a final draft of the new maps on Pritzker's desk by June 30, the Illinois Supreme Court has the authority to appoint a 16-person independent bipartisan commission to take on the task, which is what Republicans have wanted all along. 

Political columnist Marko Sukovic said that Democrats have made no effort to engage the public in the process despite those Springfield legislators insisting that they "are here to listen."

"When asked, Illinoisans overwhelmingly favor an independent redistricting solution over the current hyper-partisan, power play process currently in place," Sukovic wrote.