Metro East Sun

Madison County recently issued the following announcement. 

Chairman Kurt Prenzler presented his proposed redistricting map on Tuesday, which reduces the size of the Madison County Board.

“I wanted a fair map,” Prenzler said. “My goal was to take politics out of the process.”

In April, Prenzler signed a $4,500 contract with the University of Illinois Geographic Information Systems Lab at Springfield (UIS) to redraw the county board districts and reduce the number of seats from 29 to 25.

“The map was redrawn without bias,” Prenzler said. “State law provides a minimum of six days for the public to evaluate the map and then a public hearing is held.”

Every 10 years, county board district lines are adjusted to reflect population changes since the last census and ensure approximately equal representation of residents. Although the population data is not yet available from the 2020 census, information from American Community Survey, which is an ongoing survey through the U.S. Census Bureau, was used to draw the maps and keep population equity in the redrawn districts.

The Chairman’s map will be available for public viewing online in PDF format at https://www.co.madison.il.us/government/county_board/districts.php and to view in GIS format visit https://gisportal.co.madison.il.us/portal/sharing/rest/content/items/895e75fd22b642788a993bbedc610ff0/data

A public hearing will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 18 in the County Board room at the Administration Building..

The County Board is required to hold a public hearing before voting on a proposed map. The state requires counties must approve a map by July 1.