SHOWDOWN VOTE ON WARD MAP CALLED OFF
Ald. Michelle Harris, chairman of the City Council’s Rules Committee, said delaying a vote will allow public input while negotiations continue in hopes of avoiding a referendum, city’s first in 30 years
Lacking the 41 votes needed to avoid a costly referendum, the chairman of the City Council’s Rules Committee on Wednesday called off a showdown vote on a new ward map — dragging the once-a-decade struggle to craft new boundaries past the Dec. 1 deadline.
At a special Council meeting that lasted less than an hour, Ald. Michelle Harris (8th), Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Council floor leader, introduced the citywide ward map crafted by Mike Kasper, who served for decades as the election law expert for deposed Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
As expected, the map includes 14 majorityHispanic wards, one fewer than demanded by the Latino Caucus, and preserves 17 majorityAfrican American wards.
The precise racial breakdown of those and other wards was not immediately known. The lines of Chicago’s 50 wards are redrawn every 10 years based on the census. In the 2020 Census, Chicago’s Hispanic population grew, while its Black population declined.
“We are going to demand the actual data. We can’t make any analysis without the data,” said veteran political operative Victor Reyes, adviser to the Latino Caucus, referring to the demographics of the proposed new wards.
“At first look, there’s a big difference between the number of Latino wards, where they place the new white ward and the Latino percentages of 14 Latino wards they do create. There’s a number of North Side Latino wards that they dilute in order to benefit or protect white wards. It also appears that they create a new 14th Ward for Ed Burke [east of Midway Airport] that excludes the home of Aaron Ortiz, who beat him for committeeman.”
Attorney Burt Odelson, another Latino Caucus adviser, pointed to what happened in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 20th wards carved by Kasper.
“They used Hispanics to fill in for stronger Black wards. It’s called ‘cracking.’ Instead of making one strong Hispanic ward, they took the Hispanics and divided them up into four wards. And they made the 35th Ward below
50% voting age population [Hispanic]. So, I don’t know if they’re counting that [as Latino] or not,” Odelson said.
The law calls for a referendum on a map if the Council does not approve one by the Dec. 1 deadline — but only if 10 alderpersons petition for a referendum and introduce a referendum map to be placed before the voters during the June 2022 primary.
Another way to avoid a referendum — Chicago’s first in 30 years — is for a map to pass the Council with 41 votes.
After distributing copies of the proposed map and declaring her intention to hold two public hearings next week, recess for the
Christmas and New Year’s holiday and hold more public hearings in January, Harris moved to adjourn Wednesday’s special meeting.
That will allow for public input while negotiations continue, in hopes of reaching 41 votes.
In an interview with the Sun-Times earlier Wednesday, Harris refused to discuss details of the map.
Nor would she discuss the decision to accommodate an explosion of white population in the downtown area and along the lakefront by positioning the new white ward south and west of the downtown area.
Harris said only that Kasper has crafted a “fair map to everybody in the City Council
that sat in that room and wanted to draw their map.”
“We’re still leaving the process open so that other folks can come in and negotiate their map and still work on their map,” Harris said. “It’ll be a living and breathing document.”
Both the Latino Caucus map and the Rules Committee’s version place the 34th Ward of indicted Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) in or around downtown.
As expected, Austin, who has had a string of serious health issues, said she plans to retire from the City Council rather than fight the new map. Her ward has lost more population than any in the city. She was expected to re