Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) | Photo Courtesy of Jason Barickman
Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) | Photo Courtesy of Jason Barickman
Rep. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) is calling on legislators to heed what he believes are voters' wishes in the debate over map redistricting.
"We have heard repeatedly from witnesses that they want true public engagement," Barickman said at a recent Senate Redistricting Committee hearing. "The only purpose of passing by June 30 is to fulfill a partisan agenda. The Constitution does not require math until Oct. 5, and the Census Bureau has moved up its deadline for when it plans to make data available. Witnesses have said that we should use the delay in the Census Data as an opportunity to make this process better."
With the debate over fair maps bubbling, Republicans have proposed the People's Independent Maps Act as their preferred solution. The measure would give the state Supreme Court the power to appoint 16 independent citizen commissioners to a redistricting commission within 30 days of passage.
The Republican method would require the independent commission to have an equal number of Democrats and Republicans appointed who aren't lawmakers.
"This is an opportunity to truly engage the citizens of this state and allow for better participation," Barickman said. "The witnesses have continually warned that the use of flawed and inaccurate data instead of the real census numbers will adversely affect minority and rule representation in our state. They don't think politicians should draw their own districts; they don't think politicians should pick their own voters. We strongly agree with that. That's why I today introduced The People's Independent Map Act."
Barickman was quick to point out in times past, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has supported such legislation.
"The language we filed today, in fact, is identical to that language which was reflected in a constitutional amendment proposed last year by a senate Democrat and co-sponsored by Democrats," he said. "Those members last year said that they were for an independent remapping process. We've taken the language that they supported last year, and we put it in."
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