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WATSEKA — What would Illinois look like without Iroquois County on its eastern border?
The voters of the rural county immediately south of Kankakee County would not mind finding out.
A non-binding referendum on the Tuesday ballot asked if county voters would be interested in separating from Illinois — largely due to their displeasure with Cook County.
The answer came back a resounding “yes.”
Nearly three out of every four votes supported the concept.
At the county board’s Aug. 13 meeting, board members approved placing the referendum question on the ballot.
The results were clear: 9,129 voters supported the idea, while 3,403 did not.
Iroquois County Board Chairman John Shure said a group known as New Illinois approached the county board about the ballot request.
Shure said some residents have asked him in the county could secede from Illinois and join Indiana.
“Obviously we don’t think this will go anywhere,” he said in reference to forming a new state. “But we want to send a message to Springfield that we are not satisfied.”
He said the vote result is just about what he thought it might be for this Republican-dominated county.
“I’m happy with the result,” Shure said. “It accomplished what we thought it would be.”
Iroquois County voters were not the only residents who were asked this question on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Voters in Calhoun County, Clinton County, Greene County, Jersey County, Madison County, and Perry County passed the measure Tuesday night, joining at least 21 other counties that voted in favor of secession discussions in the 2020 and 2022 elections.
Madison County is the first suburban county to join the movement and the largest so far, with a population of 265,000.
All seven counties that had a ballot question, asking voters if they wanted to explore secession, voted in favor of the proposal.
The ballot question read: “Shall the board of (the county) correspond with the boards of other counties of Illinois, outside of Cook County, about the possibility of separating from Cook County to form a new state and to seek admission to the Union as such, subject to the approval of the people?”
Illinois voters who support the referendums argue that Chicago and Cook County voters hold an oversized sway in policies enacted by the state legislature and do not align with the priorities of rural voters.
An organization called New Illinois has been pursuing the formation of a new state, “separate from the current State of Illinois, Urban Cook County and Chicago,” for several years, according to a WGN News report.
“All power in Illinois government is concentrated in Cook County and Chicago. This leaves the rest of the States’ residents with no real representation,” the organization has said.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul shot down the idea, saying, “It is my opinion that non-home-rule counties … do not have the authority to secede from the state of Illinois and join another state. Accordingly, any referendum on the issue of county secession would have no binding legal effect.”
Additionally, Raoul said, “The admissions clause [of the U.S. Constitution] grants Congress the power to admit new states and prevents a subdivision of an existing state from breaking away without the state’s consent.”
“The idea that someplace in Illinois wants to kick out another place in Illinois should not be on the ballot, shouldn’t be something that’s part of the lexicon and discussion of politicians. We’re one state, supporting each other,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in May.
WHAT IS NEW ILLINOIS?
New Illinois is a non-profit incorporated in 2018, and it is active throughout Illinois. Its mission is to educate Illinoisans about their right, under the United States Constitution, to pursue the formation of a new state. For more information, contact info@NewIllinoisState.org
https://daily-journal.com/news/local/iroquois-to-leave-illinois/article_c792dad8-9d8b-11ef-bac9-6714ae38dc17.html