McLean County Times

Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) recently voiced his support for the Voter Empowerment Project, a Republican initiative aimed at ending gerrymandering, and giving voters wider leeway in recalling elected officials and voting down legislation.

In a statement posted to his website, Barickman said, “People are incredibly cynical and distrustful of state government right now, and for good reason. They repeatedly witnessed efforts to dilute and minimize their power as voters, including partisan maps drawn to maximize the political power of one party and protect political insiders. They’ve had enough. We need to restore the power and the role of voters in their democracy. These bills are designed to give people a stronger say in how their government operates and who represents them at the Capitol.”  

Senate Joint Resolution-Constitutional Amendment 13 creates an independent redistricting commission to avoid partisan districting issues. The chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court and the most senior Supreme Court justice of the opposite party would jointly select 17 commissioners to serve on the commission.

Voters would be allowed to approve changes to the state constitution via the initiative process, if  SJRCA 14 is approved.

“Redistricting reform will make sure that people are able to pick their representatives instead of entrenched politicians picking their voters," Barickman said. "Recall provisions will make sure that politicians are accountable to the voters, and that bad actors can be removed from office. We also  propose to allow the voters themselves to have a say in what laws are passed, and to be able to make changes to the state constitution. Democracy is supposed to be a system of self-government, these bills will make sure that is the case once again.”