4111 West 21st Place

Chicago, IL 60623
Phone: 773-521-3137
Fax: 773-522-1832

Report-Outcome of the Public Hearing of the

Illinois House of Representatives
Special Committee on Redistricting
April 16, 2011
Members of the Committee staff provided handouts that included a map of the area in which
they publicized the meeting and from which they expected to draw attendees. In spite of the fact
that the meeting was held in Cicero, Illinois, a community that is 5 minutes west of Chicago,
there was no attempt to market the meeting on the City’s West Side.

Staff also provided a list of terms that would be useful in understanding what was going on.
Many of the terms were associated with the State’s new Voting Rights Act of 2011. The terms
included, but were not limited to

 Coalition District-a district where more than one group of racial or language minorities
may form a coalition to elect a candidate of their choice.

 Crossover District-a district where a racial minority or language minority makes up less
than a majority of the voting-age population but is potentially large enough to elect the
candidate of its choice with help from voters in the majority group that “cross over.”

 Influence District-a district where a racial minority or language minority can influence
the outcome of an election even if its preferred candidate cannot be elected.

Testimony was provided by a number of groups, the overwhelming number of whom were
representing interests of the Latino community. Some witnesses represented interests from local
suburbs, conservative Republicans and the Tea Party and the LGBT community. Three
witnesses represented interests of the African American Community. Commissioner Robert
Steele served as a witness and represented the interests of the 2nd District in Cook County.

A number of Latino witnesses demanded that the Legislature carve out additional districts where
a Latino could be reasonably expected to be elected. They indicated that the fact that their
community had grown significantly justified new legislative districts. When one of the State
Representatives asked a witness from MALDEF what their ideal number of additional districts
would be, the witness indicated that MALDEF had not yet determined the number. Some
Latino witnesses indicated that the Legislature should take into account the numbers of
undocumented residents who have not yet become U.S. citizens when creating new districts.
UNO, a local community based organization, provided a proposal outlining new Latino districts.

A witness representing a local elected official indicated that one of the districts proposed by
UNO would be created by potentially diluting the African American vote in the area and lead to
lawsuit in Federal court. The witness also indicated that UNO’s proposed district included errors
in the representation of the size of the Latino community. He stated that, based on the Census
numbers that UNO provided to support the proposal, the Latino community within the proposed
area was actually 30% and not 73%. UNO has been asked to provide revised maps, and
MALDEF was asked to provide information regarding a targeted number of new majority Latino
districts to be created.

The witness representing the Chicago Westside Branch and Statewide NAACP indicated that
they support the Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011 and expressed a desire to keep the current
legislative boundaries intact. When asked whether the NAACP had identified a targeted
number of African American districts for the State, the witness indicated that she was instructed
to take questions from the Illinois House of Representatives Special Committee on Redistricting
back to the NAACP board. She would provide specific answers at future public hearings. The
Westside Branch NAACP also requested that an additional hearing be held on Chicago’s
Westside to ensure greater representation from West Side residents. There was no commitment
from the Illinois House of Representatives Special Committee on Redistricting to hold a hearing
on the West Side of Chicago.

Mr. Richard Barnett, from Chicago’s West Side, provided testimony regarding the treatment of
prisoners in the State Census. Currently, prisoners are counted in the Census of the towns in
which they are incarcerated, and not from the town from which they originate. Public funding
associated with Census counts go to the prison towns for10 years, regardless of the length of
time served by the prisoners, which is often much less than 10 years. The prisoners are then
released to their home towns with no Census-related funding to support their re-entry needs,
including housing, rehabilitation and job training. Mr. Barnett encouraged the Legislature to
support Representative Ford’s legislation that calls for the Census to include prisoners’ counts in
the towns from which they originate.

Valerie F. Leonard provided testimony representing the Lawndale Alliance. Ms. Leonard urged
the Legislature not to create boundaries that would divide the North Lawndale community. The
current legislative map provides for the inclusion of the entire North Lawndale community, as
defined by Community Area 29, in Illinois House Legislative District 9. Keeping the community
within one district would allow its legislator to focus more intently on the community, and allow
social service providers to navigate the state government structure more easily. A number of
witnesses from other communities have indicated the difficulty of having 2-4 different state
representatives representing a single community.
Ms. Leonard also expressed a desire to keep Senate District 5 intact to the fullest extent possible
and to take into account the fact that the 7th Congressional District is protected by the Voting
Rights Act of 1965. The State of Illinois is losing a Congressional seat, and the redistricting
process must create districts where the minorities have sufficient population to elect the
candidate of their choice. Ms. Leonard also indicated that the Lawndale Alliance would provide
a specific proposal for West Side legislative districts by May 5th. This proposal would take into
account community input gathered during an upcoming redistricting bootcamp to be held on
Thursday, April 21, 2011. The bootcamp will be held at the 10th District Police Station, at 3315
West Ogden, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. with a goal of educating the public about the
redistricting process and to prepare residents to provide public testimony. Here is a link to the
flyer. http://www.scribd.com/doc/53122468/Flyer-Bootcamp

A copy of Ms. Leonard’s testimony is found at http://www.scribd.com/doc/53161459/Public-

Testimony-to-the-Illinois-House-Special-Committee-on-Redistricting

Upcoming Meetings

The Illinois House of Representatives Committee on Redistricting has no public hearings

planned for the West Side of Chicago. The Illinois Senate Committee on Redistricting has
scheduled a hearing for Cicero on April 19, 2011 at the "New Cicero" Community Center, 2250
South 49th Avenue. The Senate has also honored our request to schedule a hearing for the West
Side of Chicago on April 2nd , at a time and location to be determined.

Redistricting is a serious matter that impacts us all. It is critical that the process includes the
voices of a wide range of stakeholders, and not just a few. It is equally important to understand
the differences and similarities between the Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011 with the Voting
Rights Act of 1965 in order to fully assess the impact of the new map upon local communities.
We encourage you to attend as many public hearings as you can.

 Here is a link to the Illinois House of Representatives Special Committee on Redistricting

schedule of hearings. http://www.ilhousedems.com/redistricting/?page_id=77

 Here is a link to the Illinois Senate Committee on Redistricting schedule of hearings.

http://www.ilsenateredistricting.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=
78&Itemid=117

 Here is a link to the Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=3298&ChapterID=3

 Here is a link to an article on the Voting Rights Act of 1965

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act.

Any questions regarding this report may be addressed to Valerie F. Leonard at 773-521-3137 or
valeriefleonard@msn.com