ILLINOIS – Should Cook County, home to Chicago and sprawling suburbs, break away from Illinois to form a new state? Voters in several Illinois counties could encounter a striking question, similarly phrased, on their ballots this fall.
The vote, however, is non-binding and doesn’t ensure such a change would happen. Instead, it serves as a declaration from voters toward the possibility of splitting Cook County from the rest of Illinois.
The Center Square reports that at least seven counties intend to vote on a ballot question around that possibility this November, including Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Iroquois, Jersey, Madison and Perry counties. Four of the seven counties (Calhoun, Clinton, Jersey and Madison) are within the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area.
The ballot question ahead for voters will read as such:
Shall the board of _______ 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?
The Calhoun County Clerk’s Office informed FOX 2 that it has certified a petition among residents to place such a measure on the ballot. It appears that Clinton, Jersey and Madison counties approved the groundwork for a November ballot question on the matter through board votes earlier this year.
As recently as last year, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul submitted an opinion that would seemingly strike down the idea of not only Cook County, but any Illinois county separating from the state. The opinion stated that “any referendum on the issue of county secession would have no binding legal effect.”
Based on Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution, in the hypothetical situation that Cook County would separate from Illinois, such a possibility would need approval from the Illinois General Assembly, Illinois governor, both houses of U.S. Congress and the President of the United States of America.
According to a 2020 poll by the Simon Institute, around half of Illinois Republicans would support dividing Illinois into two states. Some claim that Chicago’s dense population drives the state’s politics, clashing with the priorities downstate voters.