LaSalle County Board members are to vote tomorrow on a new board district map that they didn’t draw. Several of them could find themselves drawn into a district with one or more other members.
According to board member comments at a committee meeting earlier this week, just 23 of the 29 new districts have current members in them. A consultant used a computer program to draw the map without any information about where the members live. County Board Attorney Patrick Herrmann says all that, plus several members ending up in districts with other members, will help make the map defensible in court if anyone claims it was gerrymandered.
The consultant came up with three proposals, aiming to compromise between district compactness and not making the county split numerous election precincts.