Communities throughout the state of Illinois are held hostage in every election by broken, crime-ridden, Democrat controlled Cook County.
On Election Day 2022, voters in 27 counties in the state passed non-binding referendums urging elected officials to participate in conversations focused on ending ties with the state.
In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton “won” the state. But the maps shows the majority of geographic areas did not. Millions of Illinoians are left voiceless and unable to impact state-wide and national races.
Image: Screenshot from The Chicago Tribune
Non-profit New Illinois is educating Illinois citizens about the process of pursuing the creation of a new state.
New Illinois is a nonprofit organization that educates Illinois citizens about their right to pursue the creation of new state from the State of Illinois. We are seeking a state split, following the process provided in the U.S. Constitution (Article IV, Sec. 3). This is the same way that West Virginia split from Virginia.
We are a addressing longstanding divide in the State of Illinois. This divide is not between Democrats and Republicans—it is urban vs. rural, small town and suburban. We are two very different places, both culturally and economically. Legislation and policies addressing the needs and best interests of a major urban area like Chicago/Cook County are not necessarily in the best interests of the rest of the state.
On Election Day in Illinois, ballots contained statewide questions ranging from whether or not to amend the state’s constitution, to who should be the next Governor of Illinois, to who should sit on the Illinois State Supreme Court.
But some local ballots contained questions about whether to leave the state altogether.
Tuesday, two Illinois counties and a portion of another passed non-binding referendums that would encourage their elected officials to engage in discussions about potentially severing ties with the state government.
The votes were hardly a new phenomenon. Instead, they join a growing list of Illinois counties seeking to express their displeasure with lawmakers.
Previously, at least 24 counties had passed so-called “separation referendums,” according to reporting by Illinois Public Media. The three new additions to that list, Brown, Hardin, and the northeastern portion of Madison County, would bring that number to 27, representing more than 25% of the state’s 102 counties.
According to IPM, 23 counties had previously passed separation referendums after the 2020 elections, including Clark, Clay, Crawford, Cumberland, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper, Hancock, Jefferson, Johnson, Lawrence, Marion, Massac, Moultrie, Pope, Richland, Shelby, Wabash, Wayne and Whiteside.