Metro East Sun

State Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville) recently heard from a witness who represents Springfield's east-side community in hopes of hearing her suggestions regarding the redistricting process.

Plummer, who along with other Republicans, have voiced strong opposition to Democratic lawmakers' process of drawing a new map, reinforced Erica Austin's position by suggesting that if a new redistricting map is created, the use of accurate data would be more acceptable to maintain existing representations of minority communities.

"If I understood correctly, Miss Austin, the debates around this whole redistricting process is a significant concern that we must make sure these groups are represented," Plummer said. "One of those big debates is how do we ensure that communities that often times are underrepresented or underreported are well represented in the redistricting process?"

The senators heard from Austin, a Springfield School Board member and resident in Rep. Sue Scherer's (D-Decatur) district, who testified that the boundaries should be kept the same to ensure that the East side of Springfield will have a strong representation at the Capitol, which will not happen, according to her, if the boundaries were split.

“There are significant issues with our black population here,” Austin said. “I am a proponent of this, of keeping the boundaries the same as they are because of the representation that we have here.

Austin confirmed with Plummer that she prefers the U.S. Census numbers as the more accurate data to be used for redrawing maps after the senator explained the current situation.

“So, a lot of experts have testified, have shown us that using the most accurate data available to the redistricting committee and the folks that will ultimately draw these maps will ensure that folks that tend to live in rural areas and minority communities are best represented by using the Census Data rather than using data that is less accurate,” Plummer told Austin. “Would it be your testimony that your preferences that we use the Census Data, which better represents these communities, or would you prefer to use or less accurate ACS type data?”

Plummer and his Republican party mates from both the state Senate and House are backing Senate Bill 1325 filed by Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington), which aims to introduce reform legislation amending the Democratic lawmakers' version of the redistricting process.

The bill “uses identical language from SJRCA 0004, a constitutional amendment for an independent redistricting commission that was introduced by Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield) in 2019,” Barickman explained in a statement.

Republican lawmakers have also previously called on the governor to testify on the redistricting process.