Will the Lake County Board be reduced by two seats? Panel may urge it
A Lake County panel is expected to recommend the number of county board seats be dropped from 21 to 19 to ensure representation reflects racial demographics.
If approved, the change would take effect in the 2022 election.
State law requires Illinois counties to redraw county board districts every 10 years based on updated census data, in a process known as reapportionment. There had been 23 Lake County Board districts for 30 years until the number was reduced to 21 in 2012.
Lake County's seven-member reapportionment committee was selected in February and has met four times, most recently on Monday. It is composed of five Democrats and two Republicans and headed by county board Chair Sandy Hart of Lake Bluff.
County districts are required to be substantially equal in population and as contiguous and compact as possible. The federal Voting Rights Act requires areas with a 50% minority population be kept together.
According to information provided to the committee, four districts in Lake County meet that threshold.
Hart said having 19 districts rather than 21 would slightly increase the potential minority representation on the county board. The 2020 census showed Lake County is 24% Hispanic, 7% Black, 8% Asian and 61% white.
"It is important to our board that we get to a place where our board demographics by design reflect the demographics of Lake County," Hart said during Monday's committee meeting.
A majority of the committee agreed with reducing the number of districts. But Republican members Michael Danforth of Fox River Grove and Linda Pedersen of Antioch argued for keeping 21.
"To try to use the number of districts in order to achieve some type of racial balance, I don't think is really what we should be looking at," Danforth said. "Wherever the population shifts, that's going to determine, really, how the maps are drawn."
County board member Marah Altenberg is not on the committee but weighed in at Monday's meeting.
"Reducing the size of the board would have the same discriminatory impact we've been fighting against for years, and minority communities would suffer for it," the Buffalo Grove Democrat said.
Specific boundaries must be set by Dec. 31 and will be determined after the county board votes on an ordinance setting the size of the board and other guidelines.
Besides reducing the number of seats, the committee also informally agreed to keep current practices in place.
Those call for each district to be represented by a single person rather than multiple members; that the county board chair be elected by the other board members rather than by a countywide vote; and that members get a larger annual salary rather than a smaller salary - now about $43,000 - augmented by per diems.
The recommendations will be consolidated into an ordinance at the committee's next meeting Friday, with a vote by the full county board expected Oct. 12.
In May, Hart hosted four virtual public meetings, each for a separate quadrant of the county, to discuss reapportionment with residents.
For information on reapportionment or to view the meetings, visit lakecountyil.gov.