* Washington Post…

An Illinois Senate committee will hold its first hearing Wednesday to begin the process of redrawing congressional and state legislative districts in line with the 2020 census, despite the fact that detailed census data will likely be unavailable until September.

Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, said in an interview that despite the delay by the Census Bureau, he expects the General Assembly to complete the process before the June 30 deadline set in the state constitution.

“Well, the delay in the census data is certainly a new challenge, in a year full of challenges. But we’re prepared to forge ahead with our obligation to draw a map before June 30, as we’re required to do by the Constitution,” Harmon said.

Normally, states would receive the detailed “block-level” data from the Census Bureau in early April following the decennial census, but the process was delayed in 2020, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

* Capitol News Illinois…

Under the Illinois Constitution, if lawmakers fail to approve new maps by June 30, the process is automatically handed over to an eight-member, bipartisan Legislative Redistricting Commission. That panel would then have until Aug. 10 to produce maps that have the support of at least five members. If it fails to meet that deadline, one more person would be chosen at random from a preapproved list to serve on the commission and the deadline would be extended to Oct. 5.

Harmon, however, said he does not believe that will be necessary, and the first committee hearing will feature testimony from the National Conference of State Legislatures about how other states are approaching the challenge.

“We know other states are getting started with their redistricting process as well, Iowa is kicking off their process,” he said. “Oklahoma seems to be a little bit ahead of us. Oklahoma evidently has announced that it’s going to begin using the 2019 estimated data from the American Community Survey, which in the past has been a fairly reliable predictor of what the final census data will look like.”

Keep an eye on the Oklahoma option.

* Crain’s…

Senate President Don Harmon promises “a thoughtful, thorough, transparent process where everyone has a seat,” and that he and Welch share a belief that a fair map is one that reflects the racial diversity of Illinois.

Harmon says it’s too early to preordain how many majority-Black districts might be lost. “We have a proud tradition in Illinois of ensuring minority representation … that will continue to be a guiding principle.”

Harmon made state Sen. Omar Aquino, who is Latino, a chair and state Sen. Elgie Sims, who is Black, vice-chair (similarly in the House, Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez is chair, and Curtis J. Tarver is vice-chair). “For communities that have been traditionally marginalized, the African-American community, the Latino/Latina/Latinx community to not only have a seat at the table, but to have the gavel, is an important message to the residents of Illinois that all voices are going to be heard,” Harmon says. “They’ve both been staunch advocates for their communities and for good government, and I trust they’ll be able to lead a diverse and representative committee through their process.”

* Tribune…

Any map is certain to draw a legal challenge and the accuracy of the data used would likely provide a new avenue to contest the final product.

Kimball Brace, a national redistricting expert who has worked generally for Democrats, including in Illinois, called redistricting the process of “the nonstop hiring of lawyers and expert witnesses” in court challenges.

But Brace also notes that questions about the accuracy of the census results are legal fodder in defending the use of other data to draw the maps.

“There is an added dimension to this data question. And that is the question of how good is the census anyway?” Brace said. “Did the Trump administration do a good job or not a good job? That is … what is starting to get talked about and argued back and forth, but it certainly is a realistic question mark right now.”

* NPR Illinois…

NPR Illinois: People get very animated about some of the weirdly shaped legislative districts and congressional districts and wards in Chicago. Does that make your list of things to worry about? Or is it more important to join minority communities to create a district for that population, no matter how “weird” it looks?

Harmon: [Laughs] Too much importance is attached to shapes. It would be lovely if everything were organized in rectangles. But Illinois is not a rectangle, and there are plenty of municipalities in the state that are incredibly irregular shaped themselves. What’s important in putting together a fair map is one that reflects the communities of interest and ties them together and gives everybody a seat at the table.

NPR Illinois: Speaking of rectangles, Some folks point to states like Iowa, which does map making via computer, and ends up having mostly square legislative districts. But of course, Iowa is a state with a much more homogenous population than Illinois. Is there a happy medium for folks who advocate for that sort of extreme nonpartisan process?

Harmon: I think that the Iowa process has been sold as something it is not. A computer doesn’t draw the districts; the people programming the computer do. Iowa is more homogenous, but there’s not a single African American in the Iowa Senate. And I don’t know that is a question of chance or or not. Illinois has a richly diverse community, and has led the way on representation of minority communities, particularly African Americans. And I wouldn’t trade places with Iowa on that score any day.

There’s additional info in all those links, particularly in Hannah Meisel’s interview, so click those links if you’re really interested in this topic. Subscribers also have additional information. Click here and here.