This week, the DuPage County Board voted on the district maps which will exist for the county for the next decade — I voted “No” and wanted to explain my vote.
When the Democrats took the majority in 2020, it was the first time our party has held the majority since the Great Depression. In the last 5 years alone, our board has gone from having one Democratic member to eleven and the majority- clearly our county has changed dramatically. The changing demographic and economic identities of our neighbors has changed- their map should reflect that.
Personally, I wish elected officials didn’t draw their own districts. I’m not sure exactly what a better solution is, but under current Illinois state statue the County Board has this responsibility. I did not serve on this committee either; each district chooses its representative among its three members and as the minority party member in my district (there are three of us serving District one, myself as a Democrat and two Republican colleagues), I was not chosen. However, because the Democrats won the majority in 2020, there were 4 Democrats and three Republicans on the committee (one member per district and chaired by the longest serving board member).
As you may recall, the census in 2020 was delayed both by actions of the previous presidential administration and the effects of Covid-19 during the data collection process. We received the data from the federal government later than we hoped but we’re still able to meet the state deadlines - regardless of whether I think the final product is the best map for the county, it’s still an accomplishment to have met this rushed goal.
I’ve never been part of a mapping process, but I did follow the meetings closely, reading the memos published by the attorney advising the committee, communicating with members on the committee, and anxiously awaiting maps to review. I was surprised that at the end of the day, we had one map composed and voted on, rather than multiple options to consider. While every redistricting year may not require options, DuPage County in 2020 absolutely did.
This shows the old and new maps together (minus a few minor amendments which were passed on the floor during the 10/26 meeting relating to District 5). The green lines are the old map, the brown lines are the new map. Not much difference from the 2011 map.
Instead, if you look at the new map (see here on page 9), you see small changes. Surely there are some items in my district I think are great changes- we now have all of Roselle (a small community full of economic growth and families which should be in one district and not divided) and none of Glendale Heights (previously one precinct was in my district with the rest of the town in District 4). The southern boundary of the district mostly follows main roads and dividing lines (like North Avenue and the railroad) - that will make communicating with constituents and identifying which district they live in easier.
Unfortunately, there any many issues with the county map in general that earned my no vote:
Minutes from the September 7, 2021 Redistricting Committee Meeting. Video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_ntEExO1Gg
Incumbency- as is clear in videos, in the meeting minutes (page 3), and even in person (as the foam boards with the maps had pin holes where addresses were indicated), where elected officials currently lived was always considered. It was not a requirement given to our map makers, however it was a layer of data considered. When you see how many current elected officials live on the edges of the prior map it’s clear this limited what changes could be made. Saying otherwise (some have argued it was never required, implying then it wasn’t even considered) is a semantic argument, not a factual one. The fact that none of the 18 county board members nor any of the 6 forest preserve members were redistricting into a new district is proof enough to show of course the addresses were considered and it affected the final product.
Contiguous communities and precincts- while we followed this rule in some areas, where we didn’t it was glaring that it was not chosen to adjust population. My district has split precincts that meander around areas where a clean line is available and other communities, such as Winfield, remain divided between two districts (4 and 6). While it was claimed the map met this standard, a deep dive on the data shows that just isn’t the case.
DuPage’s map is an outlier in the collar counties- I’ve always found it odd that we had such a grid-like map. Any other map of voting districts you can think of looks like a challenging puzzle. If you look at our closest neighbors (Kane, Will, and Lake for example), their maps look similar in that they group communities together. We are the boxy outlier. Is that justified based on the demographics that make up our communities? I have no idea because we never had alternative maps to consider.
Communication - the only meeting I was invited to participate in involving the maps wasn’t for my district or even a neighboring district, it was a meeting with other members to help direct the conversation if there was disagreement and I was there as vice chair, not to give map input. Unfortunately in the public meetings it was said that each of the six districts met as a group of 3 and that’s just not true: not in my district and not in at least 2 others that I know of. That’s not transparent, it shows error in the process, and our constituents deserved better.
This is the southern boundary of District 1: This line isn’t done to meet population, I’m curious why expand to Linden Avenue.
Unfortunately this map passed our board with only five “no” votes - I want to thank my colleagues who took the time to dig deep, ask questions, learn about a very complicated legal process, and try to make sure that the map we all have for the next 10 years best represented our constituents. That, I don’t feel was our result, but sometimes, leadership means being firm even when you know you won’t win the vote.