The Illinois House on Friday approved new legislative districts drawn by Democrats to make political life more difficult for Republicans over the next 10 years.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois House on Friday approved new legislative districts drawn by Democrats to make political life more difficult for Republicans over the next 10 years.
Under the proposal, many Republicans would be thrown together in new districts and forced to decide whether to challenge a colleague or run elsewhere. In one case, three House members from suburban Chicago would be stuffed into the same district.
Some districts are drawn to be as Republican as possible, ceding those seats to the GOP but freeing up other territory that would be friendlier to Democratic candidates.
Other proposed districts would consolidate Democratic areas. The Springfield and Decatur areas, for instance, are now represented by Republicans but the new House map would carve out the most Democratic parts of the region and link them, creating a district likely to turn blue.
The new district boundaries were approved 64-52 and now go to the state Senate.
Legislative districts are redrawn every 10 years to reflect population changes.
Republicans had no role in drawing them because Democrats control both legislative chambers and the governor’s office. That gives them the strength to pass virtually any map they please.
Republicans objected to both the districts and the way they were approved.
They questioned whether the districts do enough to give minority voters a shot at electing black and Latino legislators.
Republicans also complained that the districts came up for a vote less than a day after the final details were made public. A separate measure describing the technical aspects of the map in plain language didn’t surface until a couple of hours before the vote.
Rep. Roger Eddy, R-Hutsonville, said the Democrats’ attitude was: "Here it is, take it or leave it. You’ve two hours to look at it."
House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, maintained the new districts would be fair, competitive and in compliance with voting-rights laws.
"I believe the map is politically fair," Currie said, "but we certainly recognize that partisan concerns did play a role."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP Photo/Seth Perlman)
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