“The Senate’s Redistricting Committee has taken redistricting reform very seriously since its creation. Republicans and Democrats weren’t able to agree on a constitutional amendment this spring but it’s good to see the Senate pass legislation on a bipartisan basis today to change the status quo,” said Senate Redistricting Chair Kwame Raoul. “This legislation will protect minority voting rights and encourage public participation.”

The Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011 will seek to augment the Constitution through state statute by establishing

• crossover districts – a district where a racial or language minority is not a numerical majority of the electorate but can potentially elect its preferred candidate by persuading enough majority voters to cross over to support the minority’s preferred candidate
• coalition districts – a district where more than one minority group, working in coalition can form a majority to elect their preferred candidates
• influence districts – a district where a minority community is not large enough to elect a candidate of its choice but is able to influence the outcome of an election and elect a candidate who will be responsive to the interests and concerns of their community

The Redistricting Transparency and Public Participation Act will open the redistricting process to all Illinoisans by establishing public hearing requirements.

If passed by the Illinois House of Representatives, the legislation (SB 3976) will mark the first time since the 1970 Constitutional Convention that reforms have been made to the map drawing process. Last spring, the Citizen’s First Amendment failed to be placed on the ballot due to a lack of support by House Republicans. Despite disappointment by Senate Democrats who worked for months on the proposal, the new redistricting reform legislation will give the people of Illinois another opportunity to be involved in the redistricting process.

“If we were insincere about our efforts we could have just ended the redistricting reform conversation in May; however, we’re coming back to the table with another proposal aimed at ensuring we get a law that’s better than the status quo,” Raoul said. “There isn’t a reason to not support this bill.”