Politics & Government

Lake County Committee Approves District Map That Shrinks Board

Democrats in Grayslake, Waukegan to lose seats with new boundaries.

A  Lake County Board committee approved a new map Tuesday that will reduce the number of seats on the Lake County Board from 23 to 21.   

The proposed redistricting gained unanimous support from the Lake County Reapportionment Committee. Lake County Board Chairman David Stolman said the map was fair and increased the number of districts with a majority of minority residents from three to four.

 

Find out what's happening in Grayslakewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

However, the redistricting drew criticism for its effect on Democrat representatives in a Republican-majority board.

 

Find out what's happening in Grayslakewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The new district map will put Waukegan Democrats Angelo Kyle and Audrey Nixon in the new 14th district in 2012 and Grayslake Democrats Pat Carey and Melinda Bush will both be in the new 6th district.

 

Audrey Nixon said she was shocked to find out she would have to run against Kyle, and disappointed with the process. She believed she should have been told earlier of how the redistricting would affect her district.

 

“It’s a courtesy thing,” said Nixon, who has served on the board since 1982.

 

Melinda Bush agreed with Nixon, saying she also expected to be contacted about the proposed boundaries.

 

 

“I was very disappointed in the process," Bush said. "I felt transparency was seriously lacking."

 

Mary Mathews of the League of Women Voters-Lake Forest/Lake Bluff said the process was political.

 

“You have four Democrats running in two districts and there were only 10 of them to start with,” Mathews said.  She also said Lake Bluff and Lake Forest should be in the same district.

 

Reapportionment Committee Chair Diana O’Kelly didn’t respond to comments during the meeting.

 

“Redistricting is a political process," O'Kelly said after the meeting.

 

The redistricting is required by state and federal law following results of the U.S. Census. Lake County grew by 9.2 percent since the 2000 Census, with areas in the northern and western districts growing the most and areas along the lakeshore districts decreasing in population.

 

Stolman said the goals of the remapping were to divide the county into 21 districts of equal population size. The target number was 33,498 residents in each district.  Other priorities were to avoid fractured districts by keeping municipalities and townships in one district and to comply with the Voting Rights Act, which requires the creation of districts that create opportunities for minority candidates to be elected.

 

 

Stolman said representatives from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), League of Women Voters, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) looked at the map and considered it fair. 

The Lake County Board is expected to vote on the new Lake County district map at its June 14 meeting.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here