Legislative Remap Cuts Du Quoin in Half
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Lawmakers head into hearings Saturday on Illinois legislative redistricting, and if the current proposed map stands more than half of Du Quoin will soon be represented by Rep. Dan Reitz (D-Steeleville) and fewer than half will continue to be represented by Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro).
Democrats have until May 31 to complete a legislative redistricting plan required by the Constitution.
Because they control both legislative chambers and the governorship, Democrats can draw state House, state Senate and U.S. House maps without Republican input, but must do so before May 31. After that, maps will have to be approved by a three-fifths majority, empowering Republicans. New legislative and congressional districts must be drawn every 10 years when the U.S. Census comes out.
House districts are supposed to have 108,700 residents, while Senate districts contain roughly 217,400 residents.
Under the remapping, Illinois Sen. David Luechtefeld's senate district will change and he could be forced to either face another incumbent to keep his seat or would have to move south out of Okawville and lawfully continue his representation in the newly-drawn senate district.
The map shows that Rep. Mike Bost's 115th district would head north out of Union and Jackson counties, then gerrymand along Du Quoin's eastern edge, then open up again as it heads north toward Mount Vernon in Jefferson County.
Rep. Dan Reitz's 116th district moves east out of the Randolph County area, and takes in all of Pinckneyville and nearly three-fifths of Du Quoin (see shaded areas on map).
The Reitz district ends roughly along Line Street on Du Quoin's east side and the Bost district goes from there east toward the Franklin County line.
The real challenge falls on Perry County Clerk Kevin Kern, who will have to identify which Perry County voters are in the Reitz district and which are in the Bost district.
The March 2012 election would be the first affected by the redistricting change.
The concept that will be difficult for many Du Quoin voters is that you may soon have Rep. Reitz as your representative and your neighbor across the street may be represented by Bost. In a lot of cases, you and your neighbor may have different ballots.
Kern told the Du Quoin Evening Call that lawmakers have all kinds of tools that can show them how they would benefit in an election.
But, when it comes to making registration and poll book changes, you have to get out the precinct maps and walk the neighborhood with a notebook to make sure you get it right. The painstaking work will start soon and be completed by this fall, he said.
Hearings on House and Senate versions of the map begin Saturday and are scheduled to continue through Tuesday.
Bost, a ranking Republican, called for a vote in April on the "Fair Map" proposal backed by the League of Women Voters and newspapers across the state.
"Fair Map is the only real redistricting reform proposal out there," Bost said. "It is the only reform proposal that takes redistricting out of the hands of lawmakers and turns it over to an independent commission. We need to pass Fair Map."
On five different occasions this spring, House Republicans have pushed to discharge Fair Map from Rules so it can be debated and receive a vote by the full House of Representatives. Each time, the House Democrats have voted to bury Fair Map in Rules.
House Republicans attempted to amend the Fair Map language onto the Senate Democrats' redistricting proposal contained in Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 121. Democrats on the House Judiciary I - Civil Law Committee voted to kill the Fair Map Amendment and instead advanced their own redistricting proposal.
"The people of Illinois want real reform, not reform-lite," Bost said. "I'm not going to vote for legislation that does little to actually reform the process. We can do better than that. Fair Map is the reform we need to make redistricting work for the people instead of the politicians."