Drawing the City’s Ward Maps: Here’s How It’s Done

“Opaque,” “confusing,” “obscure”: the descriptions of Chicago’s decennial ward remapping tell how the process has appeared to the average citizen. 

Since knowing the rules may lessen confusion, we’ll try to explain the procedure here.

After every federal census, redistricting is required at the city level just as it is for states and US congressional districts. Illinois law dictates that each ward be “contiguous,” “compact,” and as “nearly equal” in population as possible. Chicago’s 50 wards averaged 53,900 people each in the last remapping. Population decline should result in fewer people per ward in the new map. 

State law requires the City Council to present a ward map ordinance by December 1 of this year. Any citizen or organization can also propose a map ordinance to the city clerk. 

Note the word “ordinance.” It doesn’t help transparency that redistricting proposals are submitted to the city clerk as written ordinances. Instead of an actual map, ordinances have “page after page of street names, directional coordinates, block numbers, etc.,” WBEZ reporter Elliott Ramos said in 2012 when he took a deep dive into the redistricting process. “It’s nearly impossible to determine where your house falls.” 

As in the past, a majority of aldermen can be expected to present a gerrymandered map that benefits their reelection and the racial and ethnic constituencies they represent. 

Citizen-proposed remaps need the support of at least 10 aldermen. If there are two or more map proposals with the necessary aldermanic support, they would go before voters in a special election in March 2022.

“Historically, the aldermen have tried to line up 41 votes to support their map to prevent any others from moving forward,” said Madeleine Doubek, executive director of the nonprofit CHANGE Illinois. In the last redistricting period, aldermen passed their map 41 to 9. 

This year, CHANGE Illinois hopes to line up support from 10 or more aldermen for a “fair” map drawn by an independent commission. “Then voters would get to decide in a special election next year which map is ultimately adopted,” Doubek said.

A new ward map is supposed to be approved by the 2023 city election. Lawsuits contending that a map violates voting protection for minorities can delay implementation, however. Some previous maps ended up in court for years.

Current ward boundaries and aldermen will stay the same until a new map is adopted.