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SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, In 2011, the General Assembly enacted the Illinois
3Voting Rights Act to require legislative and representative
4districts drawn after each decennial redistricting plan
5pursuant to Article IV, Section 3 of the Illinois Constitution
6to create crossover districts, coalition districts, or
7influence districts so long drawing these districts would not
8conflict the United States Constitution, any federal law
9regarding redistricting Legislative Districts or
10Representative Districts, including but not limited to the
11federal Voting Rights Act, or the Illinois Constitution; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The purpose of the Illinois Voting Rights Act, as
13explained by the federal court decision upholding it, is to
14"prevent what is commonly known as the 'facturering' of
15minority voting districts" and protect the voting rights of
16racial and language minorities; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Illinois has a significant interest in ensuring
18that the United States Census Bureau conducts its 2020
19decennial census in a manner to fully and accurately count "the
20whole number of persons in each State" in order to ensure
21Illinois' fair representation in Congress, its influence in the
22Electoral College, its fair share of federal funds based on
23Census data, and its compliance with the Illinois Voting Rights

 

 

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1Act's requirement to draw state legislative and representative
2districts in a manner that protects the voting rights of racial
3and language minorities; and
 
4    WHEREAS, The United States Department of Justice has
5requested that the United States Census Bureau reinstate a
6question on citizenship to the 2020 census, claiming that the
7data is critical to the Department's enforcement of Section 2
8of the Voting Rights Act and the important protections it
9provides against racial discrimination in voting; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The Department of Justice states it needs a
11reliable calculation of the citizen voting age population in
12localities where voting rights are alleged or suspected; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Experts agree that since the same question is
14included in the American Community Survey it is adequate to
15fulfill the Department of Justice's stated purpose of enforcing
16the Voting Rights Act; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The Attorneys General of 17 states, including
18Illinois, and the District of Columbia, and the Governor of
19Colorado recently sent a joint letter opposing the Department
20of Justice's request to the Secretary of the United States
21Department of Commerce, which oversees the Census Bureau; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The Attorneys General's joint letter correctly
2explains how adding a citizenship question would significantly
3depress participation in the 2020 decennial census and cause a
4population undercount that would disproportionately harm
5states and cities with large immigrant communities; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The Attorney General's joint letter further
7explains how adding a citizenship question would frustrate the
8Census Bureau's obligation under the U.S. Constitution to
9determine "the whole number of persons in each state", threaten
10the fair representation of their states in Congress, dilute the
11influence of their states in the Electoral College, and deprive
12their states of their fair share of hundreds of billions
13dollars in federal funds allocated based upon Census data; and
 
14    WHEREAS, The Attorney General's joint letter rightly
15points out that the Census Bureau itself has previously
16explained that "any effort to ascertain citizenship" in the
17decennial Census "will inevitably jeopardize the overall
18accuracy of the population count"; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Four former Directors of the Census Bureau -
20appointed by Presidents of both political parties - explained
21in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court less than three
22years ago that "a one-by-one citizenship inquiry would
23invariably lead to a lower response rate to the Census in

 

 

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1general" and would "seriously frustrate the Census Bureau's
2ability to conduct the only count the Constitution expressly
3requires"; and
 
4    WHEREAS, It is abundantly clear that reinstating a
5citizenship question will lead to comprehensive inaccuracies,
6including how congressional, state, and local legislative
7districts are drawn and how government funds are distributed;
8and
 
9    WHEREAS, U.S. senators have asked the current presidential
10administration to reject the request since it could depress or
11hinder census turnout due to fear that the government could use
12the information against the participants and since the question
13has not been asked by the Census Bureau since 1950; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Reinstating this question will have the
15unintended effect of increasing the Census Bureau's costs and
16budget to conduct the census, as the Bureau must send out
17enumerators to interview the occupants of any address that did
18not respond; therefore, be it
 
19    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL
20ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
21CONCURRING HEREIN, that we strongly urge the Secretary of
22Commerce to reject the U.S. Department of Justice's request to

 

 

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1include the citizenship question in the 2020 census; and be it
2further
 
3    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
4delivered to the Honorable Wilbur Ross, Secretary of the U.S.
5Department of Commerce, and each member of the Illinois
6Congressional Delegation.