Illinois voters favor keeping current state flag in public poll
Current Illinois state flag wins big in redesign contest
The votes are counted from the Illinois flag redesign contest and it doesn't look like our state flag is going anywhere.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois residents overwhelmingly support keeping the current state flag, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced Thursday after a five-week public voting period to consider a redesign.
Current state flag holds strong
The backstory:
More than 165,000 of the nearly 385,000 votes cast—about 43 percent—favored the existing flag, outpacing the next five top designs combined.
Voters were given the option to choose from the Illinois Flag Commission’s Top 10 new designs or select from three former flag iterations, including the current one, which has remained largely unchanged for a century.
"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," Giannoulias said. "Thank you to everyone who made their voice heard on the future of this important symbol of state pride."
What's next:
The Illinois Flag Commission will submit its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly by April 1, after which lawmakers will decide whether to adopt a new flag, return to a previous design, or retain the current one.
The commission was created through Senate Bill 1818, sponsored by State Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield) and State Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago), and signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2023. The panel selected its Top 10 designs in December from 4,844 public submissions received during a six-week entry period last fall.
The results of the redesign contest are below:
