Infographics have been a prominent feature on Reboot Illinois from the start. Often we researched the issue to be illustrated then sent it to a professional designer. But that can be expensive and time-consuming, so we did some of the less elaborate graphics on our own using simple and inexpensive online tools like infogr.am and Piktochart. Here are a few of mine.
Graphics
Higher education in Illinois was particularly hard-hit by the lack of a state budget from July 1, 2015 to the present. The state's nine public universities lost about 70 percent of their state funding in FY 2016. The graphic was created as a plan for a possible budget emerged in the Illinois Senate in January 2017. The numbers still aren't good for public higher education.
On Dec. 20, 2016, Gov. Bruce Rauner put $50 million into his Citizens for Rauner campaign fund. It was the largest single donation in Illinois history and demonstrated again how Rauner had rewritten the book on campaign finance in Illinois. The graphic below gives some perspective on how quickly and how significantly things changed.
Reboot Illinois did polling in the 2014 and 2016 elections and I turned the numbers into simple interactive charts. Note the difference between Chicago and downstate on this one.
With Rauner's campaign fund topping $50 million almost two years ahead of the 2018 election, who would think of challenging him? There are several in addition to the aforementioned J.B. Pritzker.