A rising listing of Illinois counties disenfranchised with the goings-on in Prepare dinner County have voted in nonbinding resolutions to go away Illinois and kind a brand new state.
Residents in three extra counties—Brown, Hardin and a portion of Madison County—voted in favor of a nonbinding decision permitting their county board to discover the potential of leaving the state, bringing the overall to 27. In all, three counties—near 75% of residents—have been in favor of the thought. Illinois has 102 counties, with Prepare dinner probably the most populous.
The driving power behind the referendums was to permit the county board of every space to coordinate with different county boards to discover the potential of leaving Illinois due to the affect that Chicago and Prepare dinner County have on the state’s political choices.
In Brown County, the poll query learn: “Shall the board of Brown County correspond with the boards of the opposite counties of Illinois exterior of Prepare dinner County about the potential of separating from Prepare dinner County to kind a brand new state, and to hunt admission to the union as such, topic to the approval of the individuals.”
“We don’t use the phrase secession as a result of that’s not what that is; it’s legally one thing totally different,” stated G.H. Merritt, chairwoman of the nonpartisan group New Illinois. “We are attempting to kind a brand new state, and we’re not attempting to kick Chicago out of Illinois, we’re attempting to kick ourselves out of Illinois.”
Solely Congress has the facility to create new states, however there by no means has been a proper settlement on how the method ought to happen.
Merritt stated a driving power behind the increasing motion is that many southern Illinoisans wish to be heard concerning points that have an effect on the state as a complete.
“You’ve gotten this motion in Illinois, you will have it in California, you will have it in New York, you will have it in Colorado; it’s as a result of the individuals within the rural areas don’t have a significant voice within the authorities,” she stated.
Merritt stated a decision is anticipated to be filed in January to start the method.
This isn’t the primary time pissed off downstate Illinoisans have lobbied to separate from the state. Within the Nineteen Seventies, residents of western Illinois declared themselves “Forgottonia” as a protest in opposition to the federal government’s failure to enhance the transportation infrastructure.
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