DuPage County redistricting member says available mapping data ‘disproportionately hurts minorities’
DuPage County redistricting member says available mapping data ‘disproportionately hurts minorities’ (DuPage County, IL) – The DuPage County Redistricting Committee met earlier this month, where DuPage County District 6 board member James Zay said that, while the statewide remapping effort is more about Senate and House districts than county board districts, he is hesitant to use the American Community Survey (ACS) as suggested.
ACS numbers are an estimate of population data from the last five years.
“Many people say those numbers disproportionately hurt minorities,” Zay said.
While he supported the committee starting a discussion with ACS numbers, Zay is worried that a map based on ACS statistics would bring legal action against the county.
“And then once we got the [U.S. Census] numbers we would have to go back and change [the map] anyway,” he said.
Phillip Luetkehans said at the meeting that ACS data only gets as specific as the block group level, which he said is much larger than a block and contains thousands of residents versus a few hundred.
“So now you’re drawing in a much different geography,” Luetkehans said.
DuPage County redistricting member says available mapping data ‘disproportionately hurts minorities’
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