Kane County Reporter

Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) wonders if residents will ever come first in Gov. J.B.  Pritzker’s world.

“The governor has now twice chosen to actively betray the people he said he was elected to protect,” McConchie tweeted. “This choice again proves he is more concerned with protecting the political elite than the people of Illinois.”

Despite protests from Republican lawmakers and reform groups, Pritzker signed off on the redistricting legislation that was first passed in August.

“Rarely do politicians get the chance to break a campaign promise twice,” added McConchie in noting that while still a candidate, Pritzker vowed to veto any maps drawn along partisan lines. “I am deeply disappointed that Gov. Pritzker has turned his back on the many minority organizations that have asked him to protect their voting rights outlined in the constitution and Voting Rights Act by vetoing this gerrymandered map.”

CHANGE Illinois issued a statement claiming the maps dilute minority voting power.

“Many major groups agree the new maps reduce the numbers of majority Black voting age population districts and majority Latino voting age population districts,” the statement said. “The Latino Policy Forum asked Pritzker to veto the maps for the same reason.”

With a June 30 state constitution deadline looming, lawmakers initially adopted maps during the spring legislative session. The Democratic-drawn maps were drawn despite lawmakers not yet having U.S. Census bureau data typically relied on for drawing districts.

Democrats called a special session to adjust the maps after official population numbers ultimately showed the variances between districts were far outside what is allowed under U.S. constitutional law.

The matter is now before the courts with Republicans arguing that the job of map redistricting should be left to a bipartisan commission. The job of redrawing maps comes every 10 years and typically has been reserved for the party in power.