On July 4, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed SB 1586. It includes many election law changes. It reduces the number of signatures needed for local referendum petitions, from 10% of the number of registered voters, to 8% of the last gubernatorial vote.
It also says that for statewide referendum petitions, the signatures need not be segregated by jurisdiction. The Help America Vote Act passed by Congress in 2002 requires all states to have a centralized data base of that state’s registered voters. Apparently the Illinois legislature believes that, therefore, there is no longer any need to require that a single petition sheet for a referendum contain only signatures from a single county. No such change was made for statewide candidate petitions, however.
“Apparently the Illinois legislature believes that, therefore, there is no longer any need to require that a single petition sheet for a referendum contain only signatures from a single county. No such change was made for statewide candidate petitions, however.”
This change should be made for all petitions in every state where there is a requirement to seperate counties or cities/towns on different pages.
By the way, Illinois does not require petition signatures to be seperated by counties or cities/towns on candidate petitions.