6 Illinois Counties Vote On Splitting From State, Forming New One

In the photo above, there are eleven people rushing out the exit door. If you were to think of those figures as being Illinois counties, you're looking at less than half of the counties in Illinois who either want to start their own state or join up with an existing state.

In other words, break up with Illinois to find or make a newer, more suitable state that pays attention to the needs and wants of downstate Illinoisans instead of giving all the love and attention to the city of Chicago and its surrounding counties.

Since the year 2000, over 25 percent of Illinois' 102 counties have explored and voted on the concept of seceding from Illinois, and six more counties are going to be voting on that Election Day 2024.

As I mentioned, This Sort Of Movement Is Not A New Thing In Illinois

Since 2020, voters have passed referendums supporting separation from Chicago in 27 counties, mostly in southeastern Illinois. Those counties are: Bond, Brown, Christian, Clark, Clay, Crawford, Cumberland, Edgar, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Hardin, Jasper, Hancock, Jefferson, Johnson, Lawrence, Madison (the northeast portion), Marion, Massac, Moultrie, Pope, Richland, Shelby, Wabash, Wayne, and Whiteside.

Spoiler alert: It's not Winnebago, Boone, and/or Ogle counties that are looking to leave the state of Illinois, although at one time Winnebago County, Jo Daviess County, Stephenson County, and Boone County all tried to remove themselves from the master list of Illinois counties.

Second spoiler alert: That effort (around 1840) by Winnebago, Boone, Stephenson, and Jo Daviess to dump Illinois failed, but what will happen with the latest Illinois counties currently exploring secession (or creation of a new state from our state) remains to be seen.

These Are The Six Illinois Counties With A "Leave Illinois" Option On Their Ballots This Election

First off, it should be noted that the vote is a "non-binding advisory referendum," which is just another way of saying "we're taking a poll on how you feel about this, but it won't become law from this vote."

The Illinois counties that will have their voters weigh in on whether or not to stay in Illinois are Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Jersey, Madison, and Perry counties.

Let's assume that all those voters want to leave Illinois, and the counties decide to get serious about it. What happens then?

The next steps would be:

• Approval by the Illinois General Assembly
• Signed by the governor
• Approval by both the House and the Senate in Washington
• Signed by the President of the United States