Chicago Tribune Endorses The People’s Map; CHANGE Illinois Won’t Back Down From State Redistricting Reform

Chicago Tribune Endorses The People’s Map

On October 26, 2021, the Chicago Tribune published an editorial endorsing The People’s Map, the city council ward map drawn by the independent, resident-led Chicago Advisory Redistricting Commission through an open and transparent process that saw more than 500 public testimonies submitted. The following are excerpts from the editorial.

There’s an alternative to this aldermanic wrangling that we believe has merit.

A commission of citizens has drawn up an independent ward map that is nonpartisan, respects the city’s diversity and doesn’t carve up communities of need. Relying on citizen input at public, live-streamed meetings, the Chicago Advisory Redistricting Commission created the ‘People’s Map,‘ establishing the city’s first Asian-American majority ward around Chinatown, 15 majority Black wards, 14 majority Latino wards, two wards with more than 45% Latinos and 13 majority white wards. Just as importantly, the map keeps largely intact communities that in the past have been fragmented by ward remaps, including Englewood, Back of the Yards, Austin and Logan Square.

This map is a stark departure from the unfair, noninclusive nontransparent remap efforts of the past. And it works as a starting point.

The full editorial can be read on Chicago Tribune.

Executive Director Madeleine Doubek on The Daily Line‘s CloutCast

Executive Director Madeleine Doubek recently went on The Daily Line‘s podcast The CloutCast, discussing the fight to end gerrymandering in Illinois moving forward.The following is an excerpt from the accompanying article.

Now that the General Assembly has wrapped up its redistricting process to draw new boundaries for the Illinois state legislature, congressional districts and the state Supreme Court, the immediate focus has turned to the legal challenges and the decisions candidates are making ahead of the 2022 filing deadline. 

But after months of engaging and watching the state’s redistricting process unfold, CHANGE Illinois executive director Madeleine Doubek told The Daily Line last week that the push to remove lawmakers’ role in remapping is not ending.  

“We’re not giving up and going away,” Doubek said in an interview for The CloutCast, The Daily Line’s podcast. “Sorry to have to say that out loud for lawmakers. We’re going to continue to pester them and be as big a thorn in their collective side as we can be.”

The full article can be read on The Daily Line.