(State of Illinois)
Members of the Illinois Flag Commission have nearly 5,000 designs to wade through, as the state moves onto a new phase of potentially overhauling its flag.
Unlike the popular Chicago flag — with its symbolic four red six-pointed stars between two blue rows replicated on shirts, hats and even tattoos — the state flag is relatively indistinguishable.
The current flag, which features an eagle holding a red ribbon banner in its beak and a shield in its talon, has been in place since 1915.
A 2023 state law (Public Act 103-0513 / Senate Bill 1818) set in place a procedure to contemplate its replacement.
According to the Secretary of State’s office on Tuesday, creatives submitted 4,844 entries between late August and the mid-October deadline.
Next, appointed members of the flag commission have the next two months to pick the top 10 of them. Then comes public input.
Online voters will get to choose between those 10 finalists as well as the current flag, the 1918 Centennial flag and the 1968 Sesquicentennial flag.
The final choice will be up to lawmakers.
The law calls for the commission to send a report to the General Assembly by April, leaving it to legislators to vote on retaining the current flag, reverting to a former design or choosing a new one.
“I’m thrilled by the number of submissions the commission has received, as well as the excitement that this project has generates,” Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said in a press release. “The contest has encouraged us all to reflect on what makes us proud to be Illinoisans, resulting in some great stories and unique designs reflecting what our state represents.”
But members of the conservative Illinois Freedom Caucus have denounced the effort as a “blatant attempt to infuse far-left ideology onto the state’s flag.”
State Rep. Adam Niemerg, a Republican from Dieterich, pointed to quote from Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker when he first signed a law establishing the new flag exploration process, in which Pritzker said “it may be time we create a new one that exemplifies the values of our great state.”
Contact Amanda Vinicky: @AmandaVinicky | [email protected]
