04/30/2014
Madeleine Doubek
If you care about redistricting reform or term limits, or generally, about more power to the average people in Illinois, then the next few days are big ones for you.
Those working on behalf of Republican governor nominee Bruce Rauner plan to deliver signatures to the state board of elections in Springfield today to complete phase one of getting a question before voters about whether they want term limits for legislators.
Those working on behalf of a variety of groups, businesses, advocacy groups, prominent Democrats and Republicans who support redistricting reform intend to deliver signatures to the elections board Thursday.
Our politicians can vote to approve ballot questions themselves and, on a Democratic party-line vote, they stopped a last-minute effort Monday by Republican legislative leaders and Rauner to get a question before voters about limiting terms for the governor and other statewide officers.
The other term limit effort and the redistricting question are citizen-initiated efforts. That means, in each case, the organizers collected at least the required minimum of 298,399 Illinois voters’ signatures. Each group clearly collected far more than that as they gear up for challenges to the validity of those signatures from House Speaker Michael Madigan and others whose power is threatened by these moves.
Extra signatures, though, is step one. Now comes the tricky part. Some states make it easier than others for citizens to put a question to voters. Illinois isn’t one of them. It shouldn’t be too easy to load a ballot with questions. We elect politicians to represent us, after all. But it shouldn’t be too difficult either.
I’ve written before about election laws and rules meant to discourage citizen participation in democracy in Illinois. The Chicago Tribune wrote about a notorious case in which a candidate was tossed off the ballot because pages of forms were not attached together according to the proper rules.
There’s plenty of opportunity for similar stuff with the redistricting and term limit efforts.
The Committee for Legislative Reform and Term Limits noted this week that state law requires the petitions be submitted divided bound securely and numbered consecutively in a single filing. That rule means that the term limits signatures will be 36-feet long.
The Yes for Independent Maps group, whose efforts have been endorsed and strongly supported by Reboot Illinois, says their petitions will weigh more than 1,000 pounds and they’ll be using a 28-foot-long semi-truck to drive the paperwork from their Chicago offices to Springfield.
A few weeks ago, election law officials issued a 20-page document outlining the rules of engagement for acceptance of the petitions, challenging of them by opponents and so on. I skimmed the long legalese so you don’t have to. You can thank me later.
Suffice it to say, it’s complicated.
There are explanations for certifying valid “watchers” to check how the petition is handled, procedures for the board to conduct a “signature verification examination,” explanations for how officials will go about trying to determine whether a signature is from a valid registered voter in Illinois and more. There are rules that say only one opponent and proponent can be near computer terminals as signatures are being checked again voter registration records. There are procedures for a 5 percent random sample check to be conducted and procedures for proponents to argue that signatures rejected by election officials should be reconsidered and “rehabilitated.”
You get the idea. Collecting a half-million or so voter signatures in precise and specific fashion was phase one. Phase two starts this week in an arduous process to let the people have their say.
Next article: Is it time for term limits in Illinois? Take our poll!
- 1. Former Gov. Jim Edgar on term limits: Good politics, bad governing.
- 2. Term limits are a big answer to a small problem.
- 3. Study casts doubt on effectiveness of term limits in Illinois.
- 4. Why term limits are a tempting distraction from fairer elections.
- 5. Don’t just get mad about the state of Illinois government. Use our Sound Off tool to make your feelings known to your representatives in Springfield, the governor and the four legislative leaders. From taxes to pensions to sweetheart deals for corporations, we’ve got an issue you can Sound Off about. Try it out here.
Madeleine Doubek is Reboot’s chief operating officer. She previously managed the Daily Herald newsroom. An award-winning journalist, Doubek served as the Daily Herald’s political writer and editor and led the paper’s project and investigative work. She believes in more of us taking charge of our state government. Read Doubek’s personal take on why she’s rebooting. You can find Reboot on Facebook and on Twitter @rebootillinois.