Metro East Sun

Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville) urged Gov. Pritzker to keep his word during his campaign, to veto district boundaries that will be drawn by legislators.

Bourne, joined by U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Illinois) and state Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) in a news conference, reminded the governor to stand by his pledge in 2018 and call for an independent commission to redraw the legislative map.

“I'm here with my colleagues to remind the governor of the promise that he made to Illinois residents and to affirm the House Republicans are here and ready to work with him to make that independent and fair map process happen,” Bourne said. “We need a fair map and fair process that allows for fair representation for all Illinoisans. And, in fact, if the governor holds to his promise to veto any partisanly drawn maps then 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. We can set up an independent process as the governor says ... even if the Constitution is not amended. An independent process can be set up and then adopted by the legislature.”

She also emphasized that due to the fact that redistricting will determine how the people will be represented for the next 10 years, it is significant that “it is taken out of the hands of partisans and is independent and fair,” a process that the governor promised.

Republicans in the state General Assembly have proposed an independent redistricting commission through The People’s Independent Maps Act, Senate Bill 1325.

The act would empower the Illinois Supreme Court to appoint 16 citizens to make up the independent redistricting commission who would be required to determine the legislative district boundaries within 30 days of receipt of the official census redistricting data.