Illinois' existing state flag prevails in design competition
CHICAGO — The votes are in — the people of Illinois would like to keep the state flag as it is.
The public had nearly a month to vote on 10 proposed state flag designs, along with two former state flags and the existing flag, as part of the Illinois Flag Commission's contest that could have led to a new flag to represent the Land of Lincoln.
While the state's flag did not receive a majority of the vote, it won with more than 165,000 votes, with the second-place finisher collecting less than 33,000.
'Some may call it an SOB — a seal on a bedsheet — and the vexillogical community may hate it, but people overwhelmingly prefer our current state flag,' Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said in a news release announcing the contest results.
Ted Kaye, a vexillologist, or person who studies flags, has disparaged Illinois' flag and told the Tribune earlier this year that the design contest should be seen as suspect because the votes of residents who wanted a change were split among more than 10 options.
The possibility of a new flag is not completely closed. The commission will submit a report to the Illinois General Assembly by April 1, and Tim Butler, a commission member and former Republican state representative, said it will most likely contain information on the other finalists. The final decision is up to the legislators.
'It is absolutely up to the lawmakers,' Butler said. 'State law would need to be changed, so that's them.'
Sen. Doris Turner, a Springfield Democrat who sponsored the 2023 bill leading to the design contest, said in a January interview that the flag competition process did not cost the state any money, noting that the commission was made up of volunteers who selected the design finalists, which were disclosed in December, from nearly 5,000 submissions.
Butler expects the commission to meet again before the April 1 deadline, as the Secretary of State's office has inquired about the commission's availability in March.
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