On Jan. 2, Bureau County voters, previously divided among the 11th, 14th and 18th Illinois Congressional districts, were suddenly included in the state’s new 16th District.
The move was part of the redistricting that takes place every 10 years, following the Decennial Census. As the nation’s population grows and moves, redistricting attempts to keep each district as close in size as possible.

Because the Census showed Illinois had grown at a slower rate than some other states, it lost one member in the House of Representatives, and movement to the Chicago area resulted in geographically-larger downstate districts.

The new 16th District forms an L-shape around Chicago and the collar counties, sweeping up to the Wisconsin border north of Rockford, dropping south and reaching as far to the west as Bureau County, then continuing east to the Indiana border, just north of Champaign.