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Voting Rights Groups, Illinois Voters File Motion to Protect Privacy Against DOJ Overreach
Groups, voters seek to intervene in DOJ’s lawsuit demanding sensitive Illinois voter data
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WTTW: Illinois Democrats Advance New Legislative Districts With Little Public Review
“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...
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NBC News: Illinois Democrats set to OK new legislative maps over criticism
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.”
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COMMON CAUSE ILLINOIS BOYCOTTS JOINT REDISTRICTING HEARING IN PROTEST OF UNDEMOCRATIC MAPMAKING PROCESS
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ABC 20: Minority groups call redistricting ‘a farce’ and ‘game of charades’
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.”
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WBEZ Chicago: Illinois Lawmakers Are Meeting To Redraw District Maps. Some Groups Want More Transparency.
“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.
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The Center Square: Civic groups say Illinois Democrats rushing legislative maps
“Today, we return because the districts were in fact malappropriation, because the rescheduled primary affords us the luxury of some time and because we are once again witnessing a process that’s unlikely to see much in the sense of true community engagement,” Young said.
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Chicago Sun-Times: Madigan is gone, but Illinois lawmakers are still reluctant to embrace ethics reforms
All of the major do-gooder groups — the Better Government Association, Reform for Illinois, CHANGE Illinois and Common Cause — panned the legislation as inadequate.
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Common Cause Illinois Statement on Gov. Prizker’s signing of new maps into law
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WTTW: Springfield’s Last-Minute Session Shuffle
“I’ve been trying to stress throughout this process that Illinois should be a beacon in this process. We’re a national leader in voting rights,” said Jay Young of Common Cause Illinois.
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CCIL statement on landmark criminal justice reform legislation
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Good Government Groups Call for Transparency in Developing Ethics Legislation in the 102nd General Assembly
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Statement on Additional Coronavius Mitigation Measures
The primary duty of any government is to keep the people safe. Decisions like those made today to increase coronavirus mitigation measures in Illinois are tough but necessary decisions to honor that duty. We urge all Illinois residents to adhere to CDC guidelines, and we call on the Trump administration to work with Congress to immediately pass much-needed relief for Illinois families and state governments as they work through this crisis.