Illinois Legislators Diluted Black Votes in Metro East During Redistricting. Here’s How the Court can Fix It.

A group of Black-led community organizations is taking on Illinois lawmakers for unlawfully drawing racially gerrymandered districts that crack apart the Black community of the East St. Louis area in order to secure the election of a white incumbent in a nearby district. 

Last week, the East St. Louis Branch NAACP, the Illinois State Conference of the NAACP, and United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations (UCCRO) submitted proposed revisions to a federal court - fixes that would cure the legal violations and keep the geographically compact and politically cohesive Black community of the East St. Louis area together.

The proposed changes are part of a federal lawsuit we filed on behalf of the community organizations alleging that the 2021 Illinois state redistricting map violates the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Unlike the Illinois legislature, which rushed to approve the redistricting maps just one day after releasing them to the public, the Black residents who informed these revisions know their community intimately. By diluting their votes, legislators are denying them an equal opportunity to participate in the political process and to elect candidates of their choice.

We are asking the judge to revise the redistricting plan in order to protect voters’ rights.

>> Read more coverage in Capitol News Illinois and Crain’s Chicago Business