District Normal for a Better Normal, IL

We are raising money to help bring awareness of the positive impacts for Normal, IL to change their at-large Trustee elections to a defined district model.

The reason this initiative started was in part due to neighborhoods in Normal, IL which have been neglected and their residents' complaints ignored. Mainly on the West side of Town. Their complaints of receiving brown tap water and pothole-filled roads went ignored for years until the media embarrassed the town staff to resolve the brown tap water issue. The roads are still mainly ignored, while the areas where the Mayor and long-term Trustees live get their streets resurfaced well before they get as bad as other areas of Town.

After researching, we discovered that the elected Trustees lived in 2 concentrated pockets of Town. In fact, in Normal, all Trustees could live in the same house. There were no method residents could hold any single Trustee accountable for their neighborhood issues being neglected. In an At-Large election system, all Trustees represent the entire town, yet no Trustee is accountable for any area or neighborhood.

Another benefit of changing to a District model is that it will make it easier and more affordable for people to run for office and participate in their governance. Currently, candidates must campaign to all voters in Normal. Districting means they would only have to campaign directly to the voters in their District. Roughly this makes it 83% LESS costly to run for office and the petition signature count is reduced to only a fraction.

There are other reasons for Districting, the NAACP has put together an excellent FAQ document which can be found on the BetterNormal-IL.com website. Municipalities with at-large elections elsewhere in the USA have recently been sued or their citizens have put for the same ballot initiative we are doing here in Normal, IL. We believe it is time Normal, IL eliminates its at-large elections for Trustees.

We expect the result of districting will yield better Representation, better Accountability, and better Government.

We are currently collecting the required number of petition signatures to put the following question on the November 2022 General Election Ballot. "Shall the town be divided into 6 districts with one trustee elected from each district?"

The purpose of this fundraising effort is to fund a public awareness campaign to inform residents of the impacts of voting to approve this ballot question. We expect to use the funds to purchase yard signs, radio spots, newspaper ads, mailers, website, social media marketing, etc.

There are more details available at BetterNormal-IL.com.

Thank you in advance. Your financial support is appreciated.