GOP wants more time for redistricting signatures

SPRINGFIELD - Top Illinois Republicans are requesting that the State Board of Elections grant an extension to a group gathering signatures to take the political mapmaking process away from lawmakers.

House Republican Leader Jim Durkin and Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno asked the board Tuesday to give "Yes for Independent Maps" more time to recoup enough ballot signatures to let voters decide the issue in November.

The group submitted more than 500,000 signatures to the Board of Elections last month. But executive director Rupert Borgsmiller says less than half of a 5 percent sample of signatures was valid. The proposed constitutional amendment would give mapmaking responsibilities to an independent commission.

The group needs nearly 300,000 valid signatures to put the proposal on the ballot. The effort also faces a court challenge.