Seven more conservative Illinois counties voted in favor of separating from Cook County (Chicago) yesterday in non-binding referendums. This was the ballot question: “Shall the Board of ____ County correspond with the boards of other counties of Illinois outside of Cook 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?” The question is non-binding.
Although Madison County only voted 56.5% in favor, in unofficial results, the other counties voted 71% to 77% in favor. In 2020-2022, 26 counties voted in favor of such questions, and none voted in opposition. Those counties averaged 74% in favor. Illinois currently has 101 counties.
Iroquois County was the first county to vote on the issue that is not more southerly than Peoria, as the movement has been predominantly in the southern half of the state. Republicans vastly outnumber Democrats in each of the counties, and only Madison County, population 265,000, is not considered a rural county.
Constitutionally, any deal to make downstate Illinois into a state would require approval from the Illinois General Assembly. Downstate Illinois legislators haven’t garnered support from upstate legislators for their bills that would advance the proposal, even though it would benefit upstate Illinois fiscally. The only region of the state that pays more than its share in state taxes are the collar counties around Chicago, according to a Southern Illinois University analysis.
Jersey County voted 76% in favor yesterday. Jersey County board member Eric Ivers advocates for the Illinois state line to be relocated to make downstate Illinois a part of a neighboring state: Missouri. This might be more palatable to Congress and to Illinois than creating a new state, which would add two Republicans to the US Senate.
The idea of relocating the state line has been championed by a blog called Red-State Secession, whose Facebook group was cancelled by Facebook in 2021 but is survived by its MeWe group, Downstate Illinois Secession. Neither is associated with Illinois Separation, the main group focused on creating a new state, which organized the ballot questions.
A few legislators in Missouri, Indiana, and Kentucky briefly showed interest to the blog about relocating state borders. The movement’s next goal, according to the Red-State Secession blog, is to lobby a neighboring state legislature to pass a resolution inviting the Illinois Assembly to begin state-to-state talks about moving the state line.
The Red-State Secession blog has proposed adding up to 3 million Illinoisans to Indiana, Missouri, or Kentucky. Their proposals include options that would be a fiscal benefit to the neighboring state. Each of the proposals would increase the dominance of Republican voters in the state they join.
In Calhoun and Greene counties, citizens forced the question onto the ballot by collecting the number of valid signatures required by state law. In the other five counties, county boards unanimously or near-unanimously voted to add the question to the ballot.
Unofficial election results in the seven counties are: Calhoun 77%, Jersey 76%, Greene 74%, Iroquois 73% Clinton 73%, Perry 72%, Madison 57%.
Contact Eric Ivers: ericivers -at- gmail
