No 'Fancy' Borders For Elmhurst's Wards

ELMHURST, IL — Illinois Democrats create odd-shaped state and federal districts to game elections, well, for Democrats.

Republicans do the same for their party in the states they control.

At all levels of government, redistricting happens after censuses every 10 years.

On Monday, Elmhurst aldermen unanimously approved the new map for the city's seven wards. It barely changed.

Under the new map, 432 residents were moved to Ward 5, from Ward 1, both of which are in central Elmhurst. And 158 people were shifted from Ward 7 to Ward 6, both of which are on the south side.

The city's other three wards — two on the north side — are unaffected.

At the meeting, Ward 2 Alderman Bob Dunn said the goal was to keep the ward map as simple as possible, "so you can explain it to a resident."

"We tried not to change ward boundaries much," Dunn told the council. "We wanted reasonable, rectangular-type boundaries, so there would not be odd shapes."

Mayor Scott Levin joked the ward map wasn't as "fancy" as those at the state and federal levels, referring to the unusual shapes of districts.

Each ward is about 6,500 people. The city's population is 45,800