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Champaign County voters are being asked to consider an increase
to a sales tax to fund public safety. The question on the ballot
asks if the tax should be raised a quarter cent for every $100
spent in the county.
The Effingham County Board passed a resolution in January saying
they would not use local tax dollars to support illegal
immigrants, and now local voters will weigh in on the
non-binding question.
Voters in several downstate counties are being asked if they
should separate from Cook County, including Madison County in
Metro East, which is home to over a quarter of a million people.
“Madison County is just as important to our state as Chicago
is,” said Gov. J.B. Pritzker when asked about the issue in May.
“It’s too easy to let partisanship and regional divide us.”
Voters in Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Jersey and Perry counties,
all within about an hour’s drive of St. Louis, will also vote on
the referendums. The question is also on the ballot in Iroquois
County, located near the Indiana border.
Voters will see the following question on the ballot:
"Shall the County Board ... 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?"
“It’s non-binding, and it’s not that we’re voting to secede from
the state of Illinois, but we’re voting on whether we should
investigate it further,” said Eric Ives, a member of the Jersey
County Board.
Constitutionally, any deal to make downstate Illinois into its
own state would require approval from the Illinois General
Assembly.
Some county voters are being asked if the auditor’s office
should be eliminated. An auditor acts like a fiscal watchdog,
ensuring funds aren‘t misused or spent improperly.
In McLean County, a coalition of nonprofits are urging a “yes”
vote on the referendum, saying it would save the county nearly
$100,000 a year.
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