The public overwhelmingly favors retaining the current state flag, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced following a five-week voting period to consider a redesign of the flag.
Voters had the option to choose their favorite design from one of the Illinois Flag Commission’s Top 10 new designs or from three former flag designs, including the current one, which has not undergone a major redesign in the past century.
Of the nearly 385,000 votes received, over 165,000, or 43 percent, were cast for the current Illinois State flag, which garnered more votes than the next five top designs combined. The design by two Fairfield Community High School students, Spresalynn Tipps and Johna Kinney placed 7th out of 13 designs submitted in public voting receiving 18,574 votes. Their design, number 4321, was created as part of an assignment in their Introduction to Social Studies class.
The Illinois Flag Commission will prepare a report detailing its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly by April 1. Lawmakers will then vote on whether to adopt a new flag, return to a previous iteration, or keep the current one.
Senate Bill 1818, sponsored by State Senator Doris Turner (48th District—Springfield) and State Representative Kam Buckner (26th District—Chicago), was signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker in 2023, creating the commission to gauge public desire for a new flag. The commission selected its Top 10 finalists in December from the 4,844 entries it received during the six-week submission period that closed in October.
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