Aurora Democrats pushing own plan to redraw Kane County Board districts
Kane County officials have a proposed map of elected county board districts that experts believe meets all the federal requirements for establishing and protecting racial and ethnic minority voting rights.
However, a contingent of Aurora Democrats on the board is pushing a different version they believe better protects minorities, as well as their chances of being reelected.
A bipartisan committee of board members and local citizens tasked with developing a map agreed Wednesday afternoon that their latest attempt to account for population changes and redistribution during the last 10 years, using population estimates, is the best they can do without actual census figures.
"We're so close now to when we will have the actual data that the idea of doing everything twice doesn't seem attractive," said county board member Ken Shepro. "I think many of the concerns will be addressed when we have the data."
Actual 2020 census numbers are expected in mid-August. Aurora Democrats are banking on those numbers justifying the map version they've drawn. That map is based on their belief that the American Community Survey estimates of the minority population in Aurora are inaccurate. They've drawn a map with two districts that are 70% Hispanic, and three others that are more than 60% Hispanic.
One of those districts includes borders that the county board's lone Black member, Ron Ford, believes better represent his constituents.
Ford will have a chance to make his case, in detail, during a meeting next week designed to let the Aurora board members and their constituents voice their concerns about the map created by the redistricting committee. Ford said board members outside that committee haven't had a fair chance to give their input yet. The entire county board is the voting group that must agree to any final map.
"My thing is that when we look at these sets of (redistricting committee) maps, we're saying this is the only option there is," he said. "Now we'll be given the chance to see if there are any other options."
The main obstacle to implementing the map the Aurora Democrats crafted is population distribution. Several of the densest minority districts they created exist because they drew districts that are up to 4,000 people smaller than the rest of the county board districts. That population difference is too large to survive a legal challenge, according to outside mapping consultants hired by the county.
The meeting about the Aurora map and districts is scheduled for 1 p.m. July 16 at the county government center in Geneva.