From Illinois State House News via Fox 55:

The state is scheduled to redraw its legislative districts in 2011. The process – known as redistricting – occurs every ten years and relies on data collected through the federal census the year before.

But the current redistricting procedure has been encumbered by drawn-out partisan battles, legal challenges, and arbitrary draws from a hat.

This session, Democratic and Republican lawmakers have introduced five proposed Constitutional Amendments that would change the redistricting process.

Proposals from both parties share a number of planned changes, such as the de-coupling of Senate and House districts and the establishment of public hearings on redistricting.

But lawmakers are locked in a partisan conflict over who ultimately decides how the state’s legislative map is drawn.

Read the rest