SPRINGFIELD, IL – State Representative Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) issued a strong rebuke following the passage of House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 28 (HJRCA 28), legislation advanced by Illinois Democrats that would overhaul the state’s redistricting standards.
Rep. Charlie Meier criticized the measure as an attempt to further enshrine their practices of using politically gerrymandered maps for the legislative and representative districts in Illinois.
“HJRCA 28 ensures that the self-serving politicians in Springfield will be able to pick their districts and their voters,” said Meier. “For decades, Illinois has followed clear standards requiring districts to be compact, contiguous, and equal in population. Democrats have widely disregarded this, as we see with our current maps. This legislation will move Illinois even further in the wrong direction and encourage more gerrymandering.”
The proposal, introduced by House Speaker Chris Welch, would establish a new five-part framework for drawing legislative maps, reducing the importance of compactness and opening the door to increased use of race and other subjective criteria in mapmaking.
“The Democrats are not even trying to hide their political intentions with the mapmaking process anymore,” said Meier. “This legislation engraves into our state constitution that, as long as Democrats hold the power, our districts will be reflective of the Democrats personal interests, not the interests of the people of Illinois. As the Democrats continue to try to squeeze every Republican out of the General Assembly, we still have not even had so much as a subject matter hearing on HJRCA 1, which I drafted and would redistrict Illinois in a fair matter that would ensure all Illinoisans actually had a voice.”
HJRCA 1 would compose every State Senate district with three contiguous counties, regardless of population. Any county with a population over one million would receive their own State Senator. This would balance the power in the State of Illinois and ensure cooperation among chambers of government. Meier filed this legislation as an alternative to the gerrymandering status-quo in Illinois.
Illinois has already faced national criticism for its redistricting practices. The Princeton Gerrymandering Project assigned Illinois an “F” grade for its legislative maps, while a 2023 report from Common Cause Illinois also gave the state an “F,” citing a lack of transparency and meaningful public input.
HJRCA 28 passed the House despite no Republican support and heads to the Senate for further consideration.