After the recent release of U.S. Census data, Illinois Democrats called the General Assembly back to Springfield for special session on Aug. 31 in order to “fix” their unconstitutional legislative maps.

Legislative districts are meant to be roughly equal in population, yet the Democrats’ original maps had a 30 percent population deviation. Prior to that passage of those maps, Republicans, good government groups and community organizations all warned Democrats to wait until federal Census data was available. Instead, they insisted on using inaccurate data from the American Community Survey (ACS), which resulted in unconstitutional maps.

Instead of admitting their mistake and allowing the new maps to be drawn by a bipartisan commission, Democrat leaders used the same rushed, non-transparent tactics to slam their revised maps through the General Assembly in just one legislative session day, giving no one time to review them and offer input.

Senator Syverson says that the Democrats’ continuous resistance to an open and transparent redistricting process shows they care more about preserving power than the voting rights of the people they serve.

The new maps now head to the Governor’s desk. Senator Syverson encourages constituents to sign a petition urging Gov. JB Pritzker to keep his campaign promise and veto these partisan-drawn maps.