Metro East Sun

The possibility of discrimination based on party affiliation must be eliminated in any Illinois redistricting that takes place, Sen. Dale Righter (R-Mattoon) argued in the chamber on Tuesday.

Righter was responding to Senate Bill 910, sponsored by Sen. Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake), which provides guidelines for redistricting counties.

"I know full well she’s trying to get the right thing done, and I know full well she supports removing the state political party discrimination out of the state statue as well,” Righter said. “But if we are going to do this, let’s do it for everyone and, most importantly, let’s do it for the people who work in this building."

Righter asked Bush to consider adding his proposal to eliminate political discrimination to the bill, but Bush said her bill addresses problems at the county level, and Righter's proposal is best served by amending the Illinois Constitution.

“I’m not sure that there is any more important single reform that this government could bring to Illinois than redistricting reform, not just at the county level but the state level as well,” Righter said. “I appreciate the sponsor’s response and her courtesy for considering the proposal that I put on the table. My proposal is not a new proposal. There have been efforts made for years to try to ban political discrimination based on your party from the redistricting process, though they have failed.”

SB910 would amend the Counties Code to require that when a county board begins a redistricting process, it does not discriminate against any racial or language minorities, giving them an equal opportunity to participate and influence the outcome of the process. It would also aim to prevent discrimination of or favor for any political party. 

While Righter agreed that ending political discrimination is best done via the Constitution, he reminded the Senate that such efforts have failed before.

“Actually the voters of this state tried that,” Righter said. “If you recall, not that long ago, the voters of this state put a ballot on [November 4] asking whether or not we would change the way we would redistrict here in Illinois. The four Democrat justices on the Illinois Supreme Court said, 'No, you can’t do that.’ So with one hand we give and the other hand we taketh away.”

SB910 passed 30-20.