Young Woon Han | HANA Center
Young Woon Han | HANA Center
Before the new year came, Senate and House redistricting committees announced a new map of Cook County in Chicago.
This change is the first time for the county since its establishment.
“Judicial subcircuits were established to ensure representation for smaller communities,” Young Woon Han, community organizer at HANA Center, said. “They have helped to diversify the bench and we hope they continue to do so. The proposed subcircuit maps split important municipal, ethnic and religious communities.”
The change sought to address the county’s unbalanced representation, such as only 5 out of 15 subcircuits are majority-minority communities.
“The proposed subcircuit maps split important municipal, ethnic and religious communities,” Han said. “Niles Township is an important and inclusive community. The villages of Skokie, Lincolnwood, Martingrove, Golf, Glenview and Niles work together to support the residents of Niles Township.”
“Asian Americans are the fastest-growing population in Illinois. While we are made up of dozens of ethnicities and speak many more languages, we are an inclusive community that has fought for representation and voting rights.”
When the subcircuits were first introduced in the 1990s, the goal was to put more minorities on the bench and remove politics from the process.
“The current Cook County subcircuits are extremely outdated and out of proportion population-wise,” Rep. Lisa Hernandez (D-Cicero), chair of the House Redistricting Committee, said in a release. “These proposed boundaries allow for better representation of the diversity within Cook County for the first time since the subcircuits were created in 1991.”
The proposed map was released on Dec. 13.
“The current judicial subcircuits of Cook County have jagged edges and make little sense in terms of keeping communities together,” a Powerpoint from the Illinois General Assembly said. “Wealthy suburbs and neighborhoods are in the same districts as poor suburbs and neighborhoods.
The number of subcircuits has increased from 15 to 20 on the proposed map.
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