Metro East Sun

A total of more than 25 redistricting hearings from the Illinois General Assembly have been completed with most witnesses clamoring for equal representation of their communities and reasonable notification time once a map is drawn.

Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville) took note of these suggestions during a joint House and Senate redistricting committee and asked witness Abigail Nichols for her take on the notification period.

"Through numerous committee and subcommittee hearings...many witnesses request a period of time between when a map is introduced and when it's voted on so there is true transparency on the map,” Plummer addressed Nichols. “We don’t want to see a map being introduced and no time for the people to see it and then it getting jammed through the legislature. Several witnesses have suggested a two-week time frame. Your thoughts?

Nichols, who is an active member of the League of Women Voters, affirmed that “two weeks is a good time frame, but even better … there are a lot of things that could be said now about problems with the current maps.”

At the start of her testimony, she clarified that she is not representing the organization but testified as a two-year resident of Illinois from Streeterville, Chicago.

Plummer, who thanked Nichols for her time to be part of the hearing, is also a co-sponsor of a bill that the GOP called the People's Independent Maps Act (SB1325). The bill would create an Independent Redistricting Commission that must provide an opportunity for racial and language minorities to participate in hearings that would be open to the public and would require at least a 7-day notice before any scheduled meeting.