WASHINGTON, D.C. (IRN) — It’s becoming clear that Illinois’ constitutional deadline to redraw district boundaries will not be met due to delays with the U.S. Census.
The state’s constitution would require a partisan panel to draw legislative boundaries, which could be controlled by Republicans.
The issue stems from Census data collection process being put on hold due to the pandemic and the Trump administration’s push to end data collection sooner than the organization had sought.
The first deadline to be missed was the Dec. 31, 2020, when the Census was supposed to send Congress and the president its data. The release was pushed back to Apr. 30 in their updated plan, with state-level data release expected on July 31.
Illinois’ Constitution requires a new legislative map to be drawn using the decennial data by June 30.
On Wednesday, Census officials announced that they would likely not meet that deadline, changing their release date to “To Be Determined.”
“We are currently working on a schedule to see how soon we can provide it to you,” said Kathleen Styles, chief of decennial communications and stakeholder relations at the Census. “You should not expect it prior to July 30.”
Illinois’ Constitution states that redistricting done after June 30 is taken away from the state’s majority party and handed to an eight-person committee staffed by four Democrats and four Republicans. If the sides can’t agree on a map, a tiebreaking member is chosen by drawing names out of a replica of Abraham Lincoln’s hat. If they can’t come to a resolution, the state’s Supreme Court intervenes.
“From their warnings, it does not look like the data’s coming in time for the General Assembly to have a say in the matter,” said Ryan Tolley, policy director at Change Illinois.
Another Census official gave a handful of options that states could take in light of their deadlines; ask their courts for leeway on the missed deadlines, pass laws or change the state constitution to move back the date(Illinois can’t change its constitution until 2022), move back election dates to when candidates can run in their new districts, or to turn redistricting into a “two-step process” that uses older Census data for redistricting and then redrawing the lines again once the data is released.
A spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Elections said Thursday that the state’s petition gathering deadline, as well as the date of the March Primary, are set by state law and could be changed.
Whichever route Illinois takes, it will likely need some discretion from judges. The state’s constitution contains specific deadlines that could face legal challenges by anyone unhappy with a map redraw.
Tolley stressed that whoever draws the next legislative map, they should take steps to be more transparent with the proposal to instill confidence in the process.
By COLE LAUTERBACH for the Illinois Radio Network
