Six counties in southwest Illinois — including Madison County in the Metro East — will take up nonbinding advisory referendums on Tuesday about whether they should inquire about leaving Cook County and forming a new state.
These ballot questions are part of a growing movement in downstate Illinois over the past couple of election cycles, as some voters outside Chicago and a few pockets have grown disillusioned with the direction of the state’s government.
So far, the 26 counties that have passed these symbolic referendums have all been rural with a total population of less than 500,000.
If the referendum passes in Madison County, it will be the first suburban county, home to nearly 265,000 people, to approve at least symbolically leaving the state of Illinois. Advocates think this could signal that the disapproval is not just reflective of an urban vs. rural divide.
“I think it's time for a wake-up call in Springfield,” said Dave Stopher, a Troy resident, who’s been advocating for the idea on behalf of the local chapter of the Illinois Separation Referendum. “If Madison County passes this, I think Springfield will actually start to realize, ‘Hey, there's something going on here.’”
Voters in Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Jersey and Perry counties, all within about an hour’s drive of St. Louis, will also vote on the referendums. Iroquois County, on the Indiana border, will take up the question too.
While the process is outlined by the U.S. Constitution, actually seceding, or formally withdrawing from the state, would take approval from the Illinois General Assembly and U.S. Congress, which remains possible but would be a tall task.
Critics of the movement believe not only that the idea of creating a new state is far-fetched, but the end result would not serve downstate Illinois residents well.
“We want policy that does the most good for the most people, and kicking Cook County to the curb would not accomplish that at all,” said Alison Lamothe, a current Madison County Board member from Edwardsville.
While some supporters of the movement acknowledge the uphill battle of convincing politicians, others believe these advisory referendums at least quantify discontent with Illinois’ state government — dominated by the vast population of Chicago and its suburbs.
“It's a matter of finding out how the people feel about the idea of doing this,” said Eric Ivers, a Jersey County Board member.
The arguments for a yes vote
The voters in the various counties will all be asked a nearly identical question:
"Shall the County 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?"
While the movement is not monolithic, most supporters come back to a single issue: Illinois’ current state government does not represent the rest of the state's values.
“We believe that separating is something that's going to be able to benefit both old Illinois and New Illinois,” said GH Merritt, the chairman of New Illinois, an nonprofit organization that aims to educate residents about the formation of a new state.
Merritt said her group has three key focus areas: restoring representative government, ditching government corruption and avoiding fiscal catastrophe.
Other supporters express discontent with COVID restrictions, recent 2nd amendment legislation, overhauls of the criminal justice system and the lack of fiscal conservatism.
Stopher argues this isn’t a Republican vs. Democrat movement either.
“It's representation,” he said. “We're not being fairly represented in southern Illinois.”
For Merritt, the underlying problem goes all the way back to a landmark 1960s U.S. Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. Sims.
In the case, the high court concluded that state legislative districts should be apportioned based on population. This case and others led to the rise of what’s known as “one person, one vote.”
“What you end up having is Cook County imposing things on the rest of the state that may be good for a densely populated urban area, but they're not good for the rest of the state,” Merritt said.
Illinois has a population of roughly 12.5 million, according to 2023 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Chicago metropolitan area totals about 8.5 million people — or roughly two-thirds the state’s population.
As a result, Chicago and its suburbs’ population results in Democratic supermajorities in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly and Democrats occupying every single statewide office.
Ivers, the Jersey County Board member, and Stopher said they’d respect the wishes of their county’s voters. If the referendums fail, they will move on, they said. But Ivers believes the time is now as both major political parties are changing and embracing populism.
“If you're going to have a political realignment, that's a good time to be looking at a geographical realignment as well,” Ivers said.
The arguments for a no vote
Academic analysis from two Southern Illinois University professors published in 2021 found splitting downstate from Cook County would not be a financial benefit to counties outside the Chicagoland area.
Analyzing data from fiscal 2016, John Jackson and John Foster found that 96 downstate counties got back $1.70 for every $1 they sent to Springfield. Cook County got back $0.98 for every dollar it sent, and the five suburban counties surrounding Cook got back $0.60.
These findings are disputed by a number of separation supporters.
In some ways, the motivating factor behind seceding from Illinois and creating a new state can be chalked up to what Jackson and other academics call “rural resentment.” That term, however, may be too narrow and could now include small cities and suburban populations too, Jackson said.
In his eyes, secession is not a practical solution to this problem, and Illinoisans should focus instead on what they have in common, he said.
“This is what we call in political science symbolic politics because it's not going to happen — and they probably know it's not going to happen,” Jackson said.
Two Madison County Board candidates — Stacey Lipe and Jackie Day — said they decided to run in their districts after the board voted in April to put the advisory referendum on the ballot.
“It's performative,” Lipe said. “It's just an absolute waste of time.”
Instead, Lipe said the county board could have been focused on more practical issues.
Day worries what message this referendum sends to businesses thinking about moving to Madison County.
“It is not to solve the problems that we have in Madison County. It is not to provide actionable solutions,” Day said of the referendum. “This is to drive an emotional response and to get people to the polls.”
Lamothe, the current board member, cast the lone vote against moving the referendum out of committee.
“It's based on feelings,” Lamothe said. “It's not based on facts.”
Lamothe also said she objects to forming a new state because she feels this movement demonizes cities. However, as a St. Louis Cardinals fan, Day has a question.
“Just to be clear, though, when you say you don’t like the demonization of Chicago, it’s still OK to hate on the Cubs, right?” Day said. “That’s important.”
