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What You Never Knew About Referenda
The purpose of an advisory referendum is to solicit the opinion of voters on a question of public policy. No legally binding effects result with the approval or rejection of an advisory question.
Where
An advisory question of public policy may be submitted to the voters of the entire City of Chicago, to the voters of a single precinct or ward, or to the voters of several precincts, as long as the precincts are connecting.
How
Referenda get on the ballot in 2 ways: by legislative bodies and boards, and by citizen's circulating petitions.
Legislative bodies and boards are the city council of Chicago, the Cook County Board, the Library, Park Distict etc. They decide the wording, submitt a resolution to palce a referendum on the ballot, and it is voted it up or down. Their deadline is later than the citizen's method.
Citizens do it the old-fashioned way - they earn signatures of registered voters by asking them to sign their petition to the Board of Elections requesting to be placed on the ballot. They have about 2 weeks less time to get their signatures than the legislative bodies and boards.
Who
The circulators of the petition only need to be a citizen and over 18 years of age. Circulators don't even need to be registered to vote!
The US Supreme Court held in the case of Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation, that a Colorado state law requiring that petition circulators of initiatives be registered voter is uncontsitutional.
What
We aren't limited by only one question. We can put as many questions of public policy on the ballot as we want, as long as the referenda are in wards or precincts. Many people mistakenly say only 3 referenda may be on the ballot. This is the limitation for city-wide referenda. (10 ILCS 5/28-1) However, it's a good idea to not overwhelm the voter with more than 3 questions.
Objections can be filed against a referendum on the grounds that it is vague, confusing misleading or to slanted to elicit a particular response. Opponents of the referendum can challenge the signatures in the same way that candidates are challenged.
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How Many Signatures Do I Need in My Ward?
Multiply 8% by the total number of votes cast in the govenor's race in 2002. Where do you get that, you say?
1. Go to chicagoelections.com
2. Click on CLICK TO BE REDIRECTED.
3. Click on UNOFFICIAL ELECTION RESULTS INCLUDING APRIL, 2003.
4. Click on the DOWN ARROW and select "November 2002, General Election". Then hit GO.
5. Click on the DOWN ARROW and select "Govenor and Lieutenant Govenor". Then hit VIEW THE RESULTS.
6. The column on the left, after the ward number is the total votes cast in the governor's race. It's labeled VOTES CAST.
Click here for Chicagoelections.com
Ex: 1st ward had 10,912 votes cast. .08 X 10,912=873
The first ward needs 873 signatures to get a referendum on the ballot.
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