Monee Township Referendum Passes

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By Karen Haave
An advisory referendum asking Monee Township residents if they feel individual voters should have a greater voice in state government passed with flying colors in the General Primary Election on June 28.
The non-binding referendum, written and proposed by Monee Township Trustee William “Billy” Morgan, garnered 1,089 votes (78.18 percent) in favor, compared to 304 votes (21.82 percent) opposed.
Because it is non-binding, the referendum will be taken as a  recommendation, but includes no authority  to enforce it.
Morgan was happy about the outcome, “Change often doesn’t come from the top down.”
“It bubbles up from the grassroots. I’m excited the voters have asserted that the people should have the chance to vote on issues they care about, especially when politicians fail to act.”
When he proposed the referendum, Morgan explained that, “Some issues, like meaningful ethics reform, need to bubble up from the people, not come from on high, from the politicians, to be effective,” he said.
Morgan was motivated to write the referendum question because “Right now, the people have very limited ability to make changes to their government using the most important inventions in our democracy – the clipboard and the pen.
“More and more, people believe that government does not listen to them. What many in power don’t think about is that they might just be right,” he remarked.
Voter petition and referendum, also called the “initiative” process, is allowed in many states and has been discussed in Illinois for more than a century, Morgan noted.
Illinois Gov. Edward Dunne proposed initiative legislation in 1913, but the provision failed by one vote – after one representative changed his vote from yes to no during roll call.
Currently, the Illinois State Constitution allows for constitutional amendments by voter petition and referendum only in limited circumstances. A recent proposal in the General Assembly would allow other topics to be subjected to this process. 
The constitution has been amended by petition and referendum only once, in 1980. Recent efforts to amend the constitution by petition and referendum to provide for term limits (in 1994 and 2014) and for Fair Maps (in 2016) failed to be placed on the ballot, despite reaching the adequate signature threshold.
If ultimately placed on ballots statewide and approved by all state voters, the question could mean, for instance, that “by petition, people could amend the redistricting process.“ It could also give voters greater leverage on issues most important to them, including ethics, economics, housing, the environment, and  taxpayer and veteran assistance.
This question also was proposed in Oak Park Township, but their clerk failed to place it on the ballot,  Morgan said.
“So they needed to push it to November ballot,” he added.

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