Chambana Sun

Illinois state Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) leaves no doubt about how he thinks the state’s new redistricting maps came to be.

“This process is absolutely corrupt,” Caulkins said. “It does not use the proper data that we should be using and it's all done for political gain. The people of Illinois are poorly served.”

Caulkins is among the Republican lawmakers who aren’t giving up in what they see as their crusade for a fairer process in the way the once-every-decade maps are drawn.

Republicans filed a federal suit seeking to overturn the maps Gov. J.B. Pritzker  signed off on. The suit cites Democrats' reliance on population estimates as “arbitrary” and “discriminatory.”  

As part of their actions, House Republican leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) and Senate Republican leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) are pushing for a three-judge panel that would be responsible for creating a system they trust would be more reflective of communities and equitable to all lawmakers.

Republican leaders were moved to act after Gov. J.B. Pritzker reneged on a vow he made as a gubernatorial candidate to veto any map drawn by politicians.  

The suit charges Democrats relied on data from the American Community Survey rather than more specific data from the actual 2020 U.S Census. The suit claims the ACS undercounts Illinois’ population by nearly 42,000 people compared to the figure provided by the federal census earlier in the year.

“Certainly the people of Macon County that I live in, that I represent part of, have been taken advantage of and this is not the way we should be doing business,” Caulkins said. “This is not the map that we should be adopting. We need to do better. We should have done better.”

The lawsuit names the Illinois State Board of Elections and its members as well as the state’s Democratic legislative leaders, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside and Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park.