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Common Cause Illinois, a political reform advocacy group, issued a statement Monday afternoon saying it would boycott the hearing out of protest for the way in which lawmakers were conducting the redistricting process.

Other organizations that called for greater accountability and transparency in the redistricting process included the Latino Policy Forum, Common Cause Illinois, Illinois Muslim Civic Coalition, the United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations and Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights.

“Since the beginning, we’ve pleaded with lawmakers to keep the redistricting process open, transparent and accessible to no avail,” Young said in a statement. “At each opportunity in this redistricting process, it’s as if lawmakers went out of their way to ensure the creation of these maps had as little public input as possible. Rejecting an independent bipartisan redistricting commission, politicians chose to draw maps themselves. They did so behind closed doors, with a series of hearings attempting to add a veneer of public access.”

Jay Young, executive director of Common Cause Illinois, said the maps the Legislature will vote on Tuesday “will not be crafted of public input, but of pure politics.”

In a statement, the executive director Jay Young said, “Since the beginning, we’ve pleaded with lawmakers to keep the redistricting process open, transparent, and accessible to no avail. This latest, last-minute hearing provides almost no notice to the public. The new maps have been released less than a day before lawmakers vote on them. It’s shameful, and our organization refuses to add any legitimacy to such an undemocratic process.”

“We are once again witnessing a process that’s unlikely to see much in terms of true community engagement,” Jay Young, executive director of Common Cause Illinois, skeptically told lawmakers at a public hearing last week.