Post by Logan on May 6, 2016 23:03:03 GMT -6
Illinois voters could see two proposed constitutional amendments in November
SPRINGFIELD — Voters may get the chance to have their say on two proposed changes to the Illinois Constitution when they head to the polls in November.
Supporters of a citizen-driven initiative that would take the power to draw legislative district boundaries out of the hands of the General Assembly on Friday delivered petitions with more than 570,000 signatures to the Illinois State Board of Elections. A day earlier, the Illinois Senate followed the House's lead in approving a proposed amendment that would protect state transportation funds from being spent on other expenses.
The nonpartisan group Independent Maps has been working for the past two years to win support for an amendment that would allow an independent commission to redraw the state's legislative map once a decade following the U.S. census. A previous attempt was blocked from the ballot in 2014 after a judge ruled that the proposal went beyond the scope allowed for a petition-driven amendment.
Denis FitzSimons, chairman of Independent Maps, said the number of signatures supporters collected is "totally indicative of how much Illinois voters want reform, how much they want their votes to count."
Read more: qctimes.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/illinois-voters-could-see-two-proposed-constitutional-amendments-in-november/article_397b6b19-78cc-5c9d-a7ea-18c22ec5e080.html
SPRINGFIELD — Voters may get the chance to have their say on two proposed changes to the Illinois Constitution when they head to the polls in November.
Supporters of a citizen-driven initiative that would take the power to draw legislative district boundaries out of the hands of the General Assembly on Friday delivered petitions with more than 570,000 signatures to the Illinois State Board of Elections. A day earlier, the Illinois Senate followed the House's lead in approving a proposed amendment that would protect state transportation funds from being spent on other expenses.
The nonpartisan group Independent Maps has been working for the past two years to win support for an amendment that would allow an independent commission to redraw the state's legislative map once a decade following the U.S. census. A previous attempt was blocked from the ballot in 2014 after a judge ruled that the proposal went beyond the scope allowed for a petition-driven amendment.
Denis FitzSimons, chairman of Independent Maps, said the number of signatures supporters collected is "totally indicative of how much Illinois voters want reform, how much they want their votes to count."
Read more: qctimes.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/illinois-voters-could-see-two-proposed-constitutional-amendments-in-november/article_397b6b19-78cc-5c9d-a7ea-18c22ec5e080.html