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Health & Fitness

Mike Donahue: Kane Remap Process Successful Overall

When the roll was called the new map was approved by a vote of 22-3.

The mood in the meeting room was generally upbeat as members gathered for the sole purpose of casting their vote on a map delineating 24 new Kane County Board districts.  When the roll was called the new map was approved by a vote of 22-3.  Members Deborah Allan, D-Elgin; Ron Ford, D-Aurora; and Jim Mitchell, R-North Aurora, voted no. 

The vote capped off a nearly five-month effort that for the most part went smoothly and provided a dearth of political theater for onlookers.

The process began in January when County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay advised the board of its legal obligation to redraw the map following the decennial census to reapportion the county’s population into nearly equal sized districts.  The board was also required to examine minority populations and create districts to comply with federal voting rights laws.

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Also, aware that two members had announced their retirements, McConnaughay suggested reducing the board size by two, and potentially more if others chose announce retirements as well.  None did.

The Kane County Redistricting Task Force was formed in February and began its work by evaluating the dispersion of minority populations.  This process quickly revealed the need to create six or seven Latino-majority districts in the Aurora and Elgin areas.

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The Task Force then voted 5-1 to focus their initial efforts on a 24-district map, but left open the possibility to consider 22- and 26-district maps at a later date, but that ultimately proved to be unnecessary.

Next, and perhaps, most wisely, the Task Force divided the county into three sub-groups; north, center and south.  Working within the smaller areas the sub-groups were able to quickly create districts that would meet the population criteria and be acceptable to members with only a few exceptions.  With coordination between the sub-groups the three sub-area maps were stitched together to create a nearly complete countywide map.

The draft 24-district map was made available for public inspection and scrutinized by stakeholders.  As a result, two issues were identified as needing additional time and consideration: one was to proactively seek out and obtain buy-in from the Latino population and the other was to assure political party parity in the new map.

Adjustments were made to the map in the Aurora area in response to input from Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.  An adjustment was also made in Elgin to force a runoff between two Democrats, Deborah Allan and Jeanette Mihalec.  The latter change would assure a reduction of one Democrat and one Republican on the board assuming the parties retained control of their seats in the next election.

While the partisan maneuver had the potential to create some controversy in the process it was largely accepted by a majority of the board members on both sides of the aisle.

All in all the process went relatively smoothly with Democrats and Republicans working together to get the job done six weeks ahead of the July 1 deadline imposed by law.

“The bipartisan support reflects the efforts we made to have an open process,” said board member Cathy Hurlbut who chaired the Redistricting Task Force.  “We invited participation from the public and every draft map produced by the board was posted on the internet for review."

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