Census data may require election in Commissioner Jan Hall’s district

Commissioner Jan Hall

The 2010 U.S. Census is likely to result in a need for County Commissioner Jan Hall to run again for office.

A February 14, 2012 memo to the county board from County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers states, “Each commissioner district will be composed, as nearly as possible, of compact, contiguous territory of equal population and bounded entirely by precinct boundaries.”

Elections are needed when the commissioners’ districts are no longer close to equal and the number of constituents in a district has changed significantly.

Precinct boundaries are supposed to follow census block boundaries as much as possible. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “Census blocks, the smallest geographic area for which the Bureau of the Census collects and tabulates decennial census data, are formed by streets, roads, railroads, streams and other bodies of water, other visible physical and cultural features, and the legal boundaries shown on Census Bureau maps.”

No district can have a population more than 10 percent greater or less than the average. With Cook County’s latest census count of 5,176 people, each of the five commissioner districts should have close to 1,035 people.

If the change in population within a district is 5 percent or more, an election must be held. The 5 percent change includes both the number of people who moved into the district and the number of people who moved out of it. Auditor-Treasurer Powers said that this reflects the fact that commissioners would be representing a different configuration of people.

At the February 14, 2012 county board meeting, commissioners (sans Jim Johnson) unanimously passed a motion approving the principle of keeping population districts as equal and compact as possible.

The other commissioners affected by the new census data are Jim Johnson and Fritz Sobanja, whose districts are contiguous with Commissioner Hall’s.

Redistricting elections would not be required for them unless the change in population in their districts were 5 percent or more, but both of their terms are up at the end of 2012, so if they wish to keep their jobs, they would have to run again this year.