By Joe Friedrichs - The Shore Thing Podcast - June 17, 2024

Editor's note: Listen to an interview with Arvis Thompson on The Shore Thing Podcast, where Joe and Steve talk with her about her candidacy, the county’s mistake in redistricting, and what comes next for her campaign. You can find the episode here or at the end of the article. 

A technical error is complicating the prospects for a candidate for the Cook County Board of Commissioners in the upcoming election. 

Arvis Thompson is a longtime resident of Cook County. She filed to run for commissioner in District 4 during the 2024 election. Thompson filed the necessary paperwork to be a candidate June 3, one day before the filing deadline, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. 

Related: Cook County: Error Discovered in Statewide Voter Registration System

It turns out Thompson does not live in District 4, according to Cook County Auditor Braidy Powers. The error is a result of a mistake by the county’s computer-mapping system that calculates who votes in what district. The modeling is based on where people live in the county. 

The Shore Thing Podcast spoke with Powers in his office Monday morning, June 17. Powers explained that a technical error in the system the county used during the recent redistricting process made an error in where District 4 ends and where District 1 begins. The mistake is on the road where Thompson resides, County Road 14. The mapping error occurred before the 2022 election when the commissioners agreed to redraw the district map. A total of 23 registered voters were impacted by the mistake. The error did not impact the outcome of the 2022 election as the margins of victory were larger than 23 votes, Powers said. 

Redistricting is the process of redrawing the boundaries of election districts after the completion of the decennial census. The purpose of redistricting is to ensure that the people of each district are equally represented throughout Cook County, Powers said.

The seats for county commissioner in District 2 and District 4 are both up for election this year. The District 2 seat is currently held by Stacey Johnson (Hawkins). The District 4 commissioner is Ann Sullivan. Johnson (Hawkins) did not file for reelection. Sullivan did. Sullivan’s only challenger for the county seat was Thompson. 

Powers met with Thompson Friday afternoon (June 14) to acknowledge the technical mistake. Thompson lives on the wrong side of County Road 14 (literally the wrong side of the road), and is therefore not eligible to be a candidate for District 4. This leaves her with two options: 1. She can go through a legal process involving the judicial branch of local government to have her name removed from the ballot, or 2) She can move to District 4 at least 30 days before the election. Moving, in this case, means that Thompson would need to prove she was living in a residence of any kind for at least 30 days before the Nov. 5 election. 

When The Shore Thing asked Powers if someone living in District 4 allowed Thompson to sleep/reside in their guest cabin on or before Oct. 6 and through Election Day would make her eligible to be a candidate, the county auditor acknowledged that technically it would. Read the state statute on this here. 

Cook County’s population grew by nearly 8 percent during the recent census. Powers explained that although redistricting can be a time-consuming if not complicated process, it’s not unheard of in the history of the county. It most recently occurred during the 2000 census, Powers said, impacting the 2002 election.

The redistricting snafu traces back to the 2020 census. The county’s population was 5,600 as of the 2020 count. Therefore, the average district size in terms of population is approximately 1,120 people. District populations cannot vary more than 10 percent from the average for all districts in the county, unless the result forces a voting precinct to be split, according to Powers. If they do, the district must be redrawn, as was the case for District 1 and District 4. County Road 14 was the centerpiece of this scenario. 

In an email with The Shore Thing Podcast Monday morning, Cook County Attorney Molly Hicken said there is “no precedence for this type of court action in Cook County, but I presume with remote court it would not take long to get on the calendar.”

Hicken said the court action would be part of her duties as county attorney, and there would be no individual expense to Thompson. That being the case, Hicken said she was unsure if the court would waive the filing fee for this action, but that she, as the county attorney, would request that.

Click here to learn more about the county’s most recent redistricting process. 

Listen to the accompanying audio below to hear the most recent episode of The Shore Thing Podcast with Joe Friedrichs and Steve Fernlund. In this episode, they talk with Thompson about her candidacy, the county’s mistake in redistricting, and what comes next for her campaign. 

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