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* Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias…
Drum roll please…🥁 After receiving 385,000 votes, we have a DECISIVE winner in the state flag redesign contest! The Illinois Flag Commission will now report the results to the General Assembly who will vote on whether to adopt a new flag or keep the current one. pic.twitter.com/CS3RMesLH6
— Secretary Alexi Giannoulias (@ILSecOfState) March 6, 2025
* WGN…
Of the nearly 385,000 votes that were received, over 165,000 — or 43 percent — were cast for the current Illinois state flag. In fact, it received more votes than the next five top designs combined.
“Some may call it an ‘SOB’ — a seal on a bedsheet — and the vexillological (study of flags) community may hate it, but people overwhelmingly prefer our current state flag,” Giannoulias said in a news release. “Thank you to everyone who made their voice heard on the future of this important symbol of state pride.”
The Illinois Flag Commission will prepare a report detailing its findings and recommendations to the state’s General Assembly by April 1. Lawmakers will then vote on whether to adopt a new state flag, return to a previous iteration, or keep the current one.
* The voting breakdown…
Thoughts?
posted by Isabel Miller
Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 8:09 am
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My choice came in 6th.
2 and 5 look like labels on gluten-free food.
Then again, I’m a big Terry Redlin fan so what do I know.
Comment by Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 8:16 am
That this was a complete waste of time. Feels like the committee picked the most boring designs on purpose to get this result. but to be fair stuff like this is subjective. But I feel there were way better design submissions that were rejected.
Comment by ItsMillerTime Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 8:17 am
Also, in agreement with ItsMillerTime, in a decade or two when this comes up again, put me down in the couldn’t give a vermin’s behind column.
Comment by Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 8:21 am
I’m wondering if people really, really like the current flag or if their vote was more of a None of the Above.
I would probably lean toward the latter.
Comment by Steve Rogers Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 8:32 am
How much money was wasted on this nonsense? THIS we have money for.
Comment by Capcitynewt Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 8:32 am
Missed opportunity to try ranked choice voting. 43% voted to keep current flag but 57% voted to change.
Comment by From DaZoo Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 8:37 am
Missed opportunity to try ranked choice voting. 43% voted to keep current flag but 57% voted to change.
Comment by From DaZoo Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 8:37 am
The 57% thst wanted a change couldn’t decide on the preferred flag. As a result, the plurality choice is the existing flag.
Comment by Huh? Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 8:42 am
So, when will the new flag be announced?
The vote is obviously wrong. Stop the steal. S/
Comment by Bruce( no not him) Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 8:46 am
Ugh. I’m really disappointed. The current flag is mediocre at best, and while none of the other choices were world beaters, there were several that were marked improvements.
Comment by Benjamin Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 8:47 am
Given the choices, this was the best outcome.
Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 8:49 am
It’s MORE than 43%, because one of the flags is basically the current flag with a couple of stripes added on the sides (I actually prefer that one a bit, but its inclusion felt more like a way to peel off votes from the current flag). And it’s inconceivable that if there was a second round of voting with “ranked choice” that you wouldn’t get the mere 5% or so of the undecideds or other flag supporters opting for the current one.
Our long state nightmare is (hopefully) over
Comment by lake county democrat Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 8:52 am
Status quo bias.
Comment by Perrid Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 9:00 am
Keep the flag. This was a silly exercise and waste of time and resources to begin with.
Comment by ;) Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 9:10 am
I feel like if no flag got over 50%, this should have gone into a run off with the top two.
Over 50% of the population wanted a change, it’s just that there were so many options that obviously none of the changed flags would beat out the single option that had the flag remain the same.
This was poorly run.
Comment by That Guy Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 9:12 am
As an ardent supporter of changing state flags generally, I am still not over how uninspired the committee’s choices were. This whole ordeal was a masterclass in half-baked committee work.
Comment by I-55 Fanatic Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 9:15 am
a great example of garbage in–garbage out. The choices were not inspiring.
Comment by Groundhog Day Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 9:28 am
I’m in favor of keeping the current flag so glad to see this result. The contest was fun and I doubt cost very much. I think it achieved its main purpose of keeping Giannoulias’s name in the news.
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 9:30 am
What a waste of everyone’s time. They shouldn’t have let people vote on the current flag. All it did was serve to divide the rest of the votes up.
Not to mention some of the ten chosen to vote on were absolutely dreadful. Too avant garde or too amateurish.
I liked #3679 quite a bit, but the others? Meh.
Comment by SouthLoopGuy Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 9:35 am
Very happy with the result, especially given the competition. The problem with almost all flag redesigns is that they look like computer-generated icons and glyphs, rather than something that an artist touched. That is intentional, of course, but lifeless.
Comment by Jibba Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 9:38 am
It seems like there should have been more than 384k votes in a state with 12.7 million population. Especially considering that you could vote every day for over a month. I’m fine with keeping the old flag but I was warming up to the idea of having a new flag too. It definitely would have been nice if they used rank choice voting for this.
Comment by Aaron B Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 9:40 am
My votes for the current flag were definitely “none of the above.”
Comment by Northsider Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 9:53 am
Moot point, since we’re gonna be flying the Indiana state flag here in southeastern Illinois anyway, right?
Comment by effillus Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 10:04 am
My thought….what a complete waste of tax payer money and time.
Comment by Thoughts... Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 10:18 am
When you pit a dozen rookies up against a current player, you should not be surprised that the current player is drafted first. The real question for me is how would one or two rookies do up against a current player, rather than against a dozen rookies. That said, I came in third. Nice to know.
Comment by H-W Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 10:19 am
Have another round of voting for the top 3. Clearly a majority of the voters want something different.
Comment by Just Me 2 Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 10:36 am
I didn’t get around to it but I wanted to submit a design that looked like an out turned empty pocket.
Comment by Tequila Mockingbird Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 10:41 am
Change is bad.
Comment by Michelle Flaherty Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 10:50 am
A Majority didn’t vote to keep the current flag.
The current flag only got 43% in a unadvertised, online poll were *anyone* could vote multiple times.
Also, out of the 5000 flags submitted, the public could only *vote* on 10 choices. There needed to be more public input in the early stages and a more secure voting system for the top 10. Finally, there needed to be a runoff vote for the top 2.
The whole process disappointed me.
Comment by Stopped by a train in Franklin Park Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 10:58 am
As Illinois residents, we have known the current state flag our whole lives. Yet all of these things are remain true:
-Many other state flags have been adopted into sports jerseys, get flown outside of houses, and are adored by their residents. Texas and Colorado are prime examples of this.
-Illinois flag use is basically zero. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the Illinois flag flying outside a non-government entity. Not a single one.
-The current Illinois flag was not approved by 57% of those that voted despite being a 156 year-old incumbent.
-The city of Chicago’s flag demonstrates the benefits that can take place from good design that sums up a location’s identity.
I hope Illinois lawmakers will vote on to approve new stage flag given the outcome. This is not a waste of money at all. It’s an opportunity to bring people together and foster a new state identity. The results show we don’t have one and we need to change that.
Comment by Change the Flag Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 11:01 am
This vote is an example of why we elect politicians for life. Once in you just keep them in. No change is fine
Comment by DuPage Saint Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 11:03 am
The “finalists” were not good. The “winner” is horribly mediocre, but that probably makes it the most appropriate choice. In fact, it reminds me of a quote from Futurama: “Don’t quote me regulations…I co-chaired the committee that reviewed the recommendation to revise the color of the book that regulation is in…we kept it gray.”
Comment by The Drummer Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 11:12 am
The comments here underestimate the appeal of the current flag. It’s gloriously cheesy, very uncool, and for Chicagoans of a certain age, it screams “Eagle Man.” Basically, the same reason mom jeans, Lisa Frank and PBR are popular. Sometimes its more fun to lean into bad design (especially when the alternatives are a bunch of try hards.)
Comment by Susan Delgado Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 11:15 am
A Boaty McBoatface crisis averted.
Please don’t ask the public to do this. Half of them are below average.
Comment by Occasionally Moderated Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 11:16 am
The process that was followed is not how people who are serious and thoughtful about government would have gone about designing new flag ideas and presenting new flag ideas to the public.
Comment by Candy Dogood Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 11:24 am
Let’s not forget the coordinated effort amongst elected Republicans to ensure the flag remains the same citing a waste in taxpayer dollars and government efficiency. Frankly, I’m surprised other coalition groups didn’t rally behind a flag to ensure their choice was selected.
Comment by TheSouthern Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 11:39 am
Classic Alexi to make the announcement without any communication to the Flag Commission. no notification to even the Chair of the group, Sen Turner. Alexi gotta have his clicks and likes.
Comment by SI Upper Chamber Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 11:40 am
Let people vote with their wallets. Let an entrepreneurial vendor put some designs on some tshirts, sell them around the state, and see what catches on.
Isn’t that the end goal anyway?
Comment by Oklahoma Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 11:50 am
Absent something like a Confederate symbol to remove, there was no real impetus for change here. If the need for a new state flag was more forcefully articulated and bought into by the public, we might have had a different result.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 12:09 pm
There’s still time for Mike Pence to do the right thing…
The entire project seemed like a social media promotion project for Alexi. Which tracks.
I voted to keep the existing. Truly, the rest of the candidates were amateurish and unremarkable for the most part.
Comment by Give Us Barrabbas Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 12:39 pm
This was a pointless exercise in the first place. The current flag is perfectly fine.
Comment by ModerateGOP Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 12:44 pm
Hurray! All the other designs were not up to snuff in my opinion. I think a great counterpoint to the old TED vexillology talk is this video from Pre-Modernist on Youtube. He gives a great rebuttal to many of the points that are made by the American Vexillogical Association
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-IgG7iou94&t=4725s
Comment by Politically_Illinois Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 1:40 pm
==The entire project seemed like a social media promotion project for Alexi. Which tracks.==
Beloved face of the DMV and video content creator.
Comment by Occasionally Moderated Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 2:14 pm
Our Illinois flag is generic, but we can live with it. There are worse looking state flags out there. I have never liked the Colorado flag.
The redesigned Cook County flag is pretty poor in my opinion. Its predecessor was mediocre, but the replacement is even worse. It looks like something for the “Spirit Squad” to use at high school football games.
The Chicago flag is one of the best.
Comment by Meh Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 2:23 pm
From the Tribune’s story (emphasis added):
“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.”
Comment by Northsider Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 2:51 pm
For those who know their national flags, No. 11 was a pretty good troll.
Comment by Outsider Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 3:24 pm
The SoS and the Flag Commission dropped a once-in-a-generation opportunity to refresh our official state symbol and to aim for something unifying.
Comment by NIU Grad Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 3:37 pm
I liked the Centennial one best, though I never had any illusions the flag would actually be changed.
The simple fact that the question of whether to replace the flag was on the same ballot as to which new one should replace it basically guaranteed that there would be no change.
If the flag was changed the state would have to spend millions to change flags and signage all across the state, which is something I’m sure no one wants to do with the current budget constraints (and now with Trump’s additional chicanery).
So why not turn it into a publicity campaign with no real consequences? Alexi gets his face out there and people get to discuss the flags and maybe get exposed to history/politics/things they never knew about the state. It’s a win I guess…except for whatever they spent to have this sham vote.
Comment by CA-HOON Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 3:58 pm
Not unlike a primary election–if you cannot kick all of your opponents off the ballot, the next best thing is to have a passel of opponents on the ballot.
Comment by SAP Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 4:01 pm
Ranked choice, so you’ll force a change whether the majority voted to retain the original flag?? Put me down for a “no” vote on ranked choice. The other choices didn’t win. Too bad.
Comment by thisjustinagain Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 5:50 pm
They should have had a March madness bracket
Comment by Phineas Thursday, Mar 6, 25 @ 6:30 pm