Senate Bill 1818 (SB1818) required the Illinois Flag Commission to “gauge the public desire for a new flag,” and they have been working to fulfill this mandate.
After nearly 5,000 flag design concepts were submitted, the laborious process of selecting the top ten designs was finished, and you, as an Illinois citizen, have the opportunity to vote on the ten finalists. Actually, anyone can cast an online ballot until February 14th, regardless matter where they are in the world.
Why didn’t they choose February 12th, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, instead? I mean, in this state, we kind of use him for a lot of things. requesting a friend.
You Probably Thought Designing And Implementing A Flag Was Easy…
And you might be correct—until the government intervenes with laws, rules, and limitations. Our state’s flag for a long time resembled the current one, with the exception that the word “Illinois” was absent.
The Illinois Flag Commission claims that this changed in 1969 after Waverly Chief Petty Officer Bruce McDaniel, who was then serving in Vietnam, wrote to state Representative Jack Walker to voice his concerns that the Illinois state flag was unidentifiable because it lacked the state’s name, in contrast to other state flags in his mess hall.
The issue of a lack of state identification was resolved by new legislation, however before flying the new flag, a flag commission recommended the following changes:
- The flag of the state of Illinois shall be made up of the emblem portion of the seal of the state rendered in color on a white field with the word Illinois in blue below the emblem.
- The emblem portion and the word Illinois shall constitute approximately 80 percent of the vertical length of the flag.
- The word Illinois shall be in height approximately one-twelfth the diameter of the emblem.
- The flag shall be composed of eight colors, identified in the Standard Color Card of America as: Old Glory Red, No. 70180; Old Glory Blue, No. 70075; Midnight Black, No. 70090; Nickel Grey, No. 70152; Hunter Green, No. 70069; and Brown, No. 70119.
- The word Illinois shall be horizontal, in a straight line and in serif lettering comparable to Craw Clarendon Modern typeface.
which provided us with this:
Here’s How To Vote On Illinois’ New (Or Old) Flag, And What Your Vote Really Means
Simply visit the Illinois Flag Commission website to cast your vote for the designs being studied for a potential redesign of the state flag of Illinois. The “Vote” button is located just a little bit further down the page.
Since this is Illinois, you are allowed to cast more than one ballot. Voting is limited to one vote per 24 hours, though. Illinois lawmakers will be informed of the findings by April 1st, following the conclusion of voting on February 14th.
Regarding the actual significance of your vote, consider it an advisory referendum. In essence, an advisory referendum is a poll conducted at the voting booth. Although lawmakers can see what the public believes, they are not required to follow the public’s wishes.
Illinois lawmakers will ultimately decide whether to alter the present state flag or stick with it, regardless of the outcome of the flag design referendum.
