Redistricting Panel Plans to Approve Three New Map Designs

A panel made up of Champaign County Board members and residents expects to forward to the board three district map designs in a plan to re-draw board districts.

Board members have to sign off on a plan to increase the number of districts to 11 by July. The redistricting commission has asked a planner to tweak three maps designed by the county's Regional Planning Commission to emphasize items like population variance, rural districts, and so-called 'majority minority' districts. The Champaign County NAACP and former county board candidate Eric Thorsland have also submitted maps for consideration by the commission and county board.

Commission chair Rick Winkel, a former Republican State Senator, said it's theoretically possible for an individual or group to submit a map, but the heavy analysis required give them only a slight chance.

"At this stage, it would be a very long shot for (one of them) to be considered," he said. "You'd have to have time to act on it, to diligently compare it and study it before we could adopt it and recommend it to the county board. And frankly, we're running out of time."

Earlier this week, the county board rejected map 1E on a party line vote. Democrats turned down the first map submitted by the Regional Planning Commission, saying it was worse than the current map, disenfranchising African-American voters, and did a poor job of keeping communities of interest together.

The county allocated about $14-thousand for the redistricting process. Winkel said there's enough of that money left to do five more revisions. But County Board Democrat and commission member Alan Kurtz contends the county would be willing to spend a couple thousand more, if required.

"If we need another thousand or two, I'm not sure if that would be a hangup," he said. "The point is, right now, we don't have to worry about that. At this point right now through the next board meeting, we will receive maps based on the budget. Even at that point, even if we reject that map, we'll not have to add to the budget because the commission still has, under the budget, two more revisions."

The redistricting commission's next meeting is scheduled for May 16th. The Champaign County Board meets three days later.