Metro East Sun

State Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) is upset with the apparent disregard across the aisle for independent maps. 

In a May 28 video from the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus, McClure said the redistricting ordeal has been "nothing but partisanship."

"We're going to be voting on this any day now. We have to have a better process," McClure said in the video. "We have to be more transparent. We're going to be living with this for 10 years."

McClure was frustrated that important updates in the redistricting had been posted in the middle of the night, and that a witness' request for a period of two weeks to review the maps and provide a thoughtful analysis was ignored. 

"We have to get it right," McClure said. "We have to have accurate data. These are maps done with inaccurate data, they're maps done without enough input from our citizens, done at hearings that lack transparency and that didn't give proper notice for constituents to come to testify."

McClure joined other Republican lawmakers at a May 25 news conference following the release of the legislative maps drawn by the Democrats.

The path chosen by the Democrats in drawing the maps, according to him, was ridiculous.

“The lack of transparency demonstrated by the Democrats in this process at this point is laughable,” McClure said in the earlier conference. “These hearings are supposed to provide for at least a minimum of questions and answers relating to the most basic map-making information, and yet we have received very few answers from the majority party at these hearings.”

The senator has also urged fellow legislators to engage the community in the redistricting process, according to earlier reporting from Metro East Sun. McClure said the public is being sidelined from engaging in redistricting hearings when they're not being given enough notice.