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RandySF

(70,904 posts)
Thu Sep 5, 2024, 02:59 AM Sep 2024

Split Cook County from Illinois? A ballot question for some voters this fall

ILLINOIS – Should Cook County, home to Chicago and sprawling suburbs, break away from Illinois to form a new state? Voters in several Illinois counties could encounter a striking question, similarly phrased, on their ballots this fall.

The vote, however, is non-binding and doesn’t ensure such a change would happen. Instead, it serves as a declaration from voters toward the possibility of splitting Cook County from the rest of Illinois.


The Center Square reports that at least seven counties intend to vote on a ballot question around that possibility this November, including Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Iroquois, Jersey, Madison and Perry counties. Four of the seven counties (Calhoun, Clinton, Jersey and Madison) are within the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area.

The ballot question ahead for voters will read as such:

Shall the board of _______ County correspond with the boards of other counties of Illinois,
outside of Cook County, 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?


https://www.ourquadcities.com/news/state-news/illinois-news/split-cook-county-from-illinois-a-ballot-question-for-some-voters-this-fall/amp/

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Split Cook County from Illinois? A ballot question for some voters this fall (Original Post) RandySF Sep 2024 OP
Huh ⁉️ live love laugh Sep 2024 #1
Right? I noticed that, too! ShazzieB Sep 2024 #8
I don't understand how Republicans in St. Louis have ANY power over IL. live love laugh Sep 2024 #11
They don't! ShazzieB Sep 2024 #13
Sounds like a Republican plot. Downstate tends to vote red. diane in sf Sep 2024 #2
I live in Illinois, Central Illinois, Rincewind Sep 2024 #3
Yes, there are a lot of red expanses in the state. ShazzieB Sep 2024 #14
This is silly Diraven Sep 2024 #4
Cannot happen. Republican troll bait got on the ballot somehow. Valdosta Sep 2024 #5
GQP just wants to get the numbers so they can continue to complain about hellish big cities. sinkingfeeling Sep 2024 #6
They also want to be able to pass RW laws like a state wide abortion ban. ShazzieB Sep 2024 #9
Bailey, but I don't recall his first name. sinkingfeeling Sep 2024 #10
Me, neither. ShazzieB Sep 2024 #12
As a "Downstater", I thank god that we have Chicago keeping our State safe for Democratic policies. Midnight Writer Sep 2024 #7
Without Chicago... raising2moredems Oct 3 #15

live love laugh

(14,475 posts)
1. Huh ⁉️
Thu Sep 5, 2024, 03:46 AM
Sep 2024
at least seven counties intend to vote on a ballot question around that possibility this November, including Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Iroquois, Jersey, Madison and Perry counties. Four of the seven counties (Calhoun, Clinton, Jersey and Madison) are within the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area.


Cook County does not seem to be weighing in on the matter.

WEIRD.

ShazzieB

(18,810 posts)
8. Right? I noticed that, too!
Thu Sep 5, 2024, 04:56 PM
Sep 2024

This is nothing more than a transparently desperate attempt on the part of down state Republicans to get rid of all those pesky Democrats in Chicago. Democrats control the state government right now, and Red County Repubs are tired of it. Too bad, so sad.

Thi idea is collossally dumb for multiple reasons, including Chicago area geography. Cook County is bordered by 5 other counties, and there are many suburbs that the county line cuts right through. One example is Barrington, where my daughter and her BF live. The line between Lake and Cook counties is literally the street they live on. They're in Lake County; cross the street and you're in Cook County, even though you're still in Barrington. I'm sure there are lots of other examples.

Sorry, down staters, this is not going to fly, for way too many reasons to list here. Cook County will laugh its collective ass off at this exercise in futility. Same with the collar counties, such as the one I live in.

ShazzieB

(18,810 posts)
13. They don't!
Thu Sep 5, 2024, 08:43 PM
Sep 2024

That may be the craziest part of the whole thing!

According to the op, the actual ballot question is as follows:

Shall the board of _______ County correspond with the boards of other counties of Illinois, outside of Cook County, 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?

So I guess they're asking the voters of each County to vote on whether to give their county board permission to "correspond with the boards of other counties of Illinois, outside of Cook County" about getting on board with this. It sounds like they think if they get enough other counties to join them, those counties can all somehow get together and kick Cook County out of the state or something. That's how I read it, anyway.

There may be quite a few red counties in the state that would go for this, who knows. But the chance of actually separating Cook County from any other part of the state seems about as likely as teaching an aardvark to sing!

Rincewind

(1,267 posts)
3. I live in Illinois, Central Illinois,
Thu Sep 5, 2024, 06:02 AM
Sep 2024

near the University of Illinois. If you look at a Red/blue map of Illinois, you'll see a really big blue blob around Chicago and most of it's surrounding communities. There is a much smaller blue area around East St. Louis. And a tiny blue dot in Urbana where a lot of the U of I professors live. The rest of the state is red. Chicago is around 23% of the state's population, add in the surrounding communities, it's around 45-49%. So, if they split off, Illinois becomes a deep red state, and the gopers get two more Senators.

ShazzieB

(18,810 posts)
14. Yes, there are a lot of red expanses in the state.
Thu Sep 5, 2024, 09:44 PM
Sep 2024

On a color coded map, the areas that tend to vote Democratic look like blue islands floating in a sea of red. However, there are a few more blue areas than you might think.

The map below, from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIU , shows which counties in Illinois went predominately for Biden and which for TSF in 2020. Besides the Chicago area and Champaign County, there are 6 or 7 other other blue counties (depending on whether you count Winnebago County as part of the Chicago area).

The blue counties are all either relatively densely populated, the home of a large university, or both. The red counties, otoh, are mostly (not all) rural and sparsely populated. As many red counties as there are, their combined population is less that that of the blue counties.

In other words, there are actually a lot of Democratic voters in this state. They're just concentrated in certain areas, while Republicans are more widely but also much more thinly scattered. And the Republicans in those areas are not pleased about Democrats having so much control over what happens in this state.

Valdosta

(331 posts)
5. Cannot happen. Republican troll bait got on the ballot somehow.
Thu Sep 5, 2024, 08:13 AM
Sep 2024

Full disclosure: I live in Cook County, but the other side of the airport.

ShazzieB

(18,810 posts)
9. They also want to be able to pass RW laws like a state wide abortion ban.
Thu Sep 5, 2024, 05:13 PM
Sep 2024

And who knows what all else.

The dude from southern Illinois who ran against Pritzker for governor in the last election was an evangelical Christian, super anti abortion, homo- and transphobic, believed women belong in the home raising the kids, etc. He and people like him would love to turn this state into another Indiana or Missouri. Which, ugh, no.

raising2moredems

(713 posts)
15. Without Chicago...
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 09:51 PM
Oct 3

IL will be joining MS, LA, AL, WV for bottom feeder welfare states. 67% of IL GDP is from that area. I guess 2 more federal senators is their end game

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