Activists vow to keep referendum off ballot
Activists vow to keep referendum off ballot
By Louis Weisberg
Copyright by The Chicago Free Press
It’s a daunting undertaking: determining the validity of 345,000 petition signatures submitted by the Christian right.
And it’s an expensive undertaking: merely obtaining copies of the 65,000 pages of petitions cost $15,000, and other major expenses include legal fees and a truckload of computer equipment.
But it’s an undertaking that activists say is critical to the state’s GLBT civil rights movement, and volunteers are responding in numbers that haven’t been seen in Illinois in many years—perhaps ever.
The goal of this effort is to invalidate enough signatures to prevent an advisory referendum against same-sex marriage from appearing on the state ballot in November. The referendum would ask voters if the General Assembly should amend the state constitution to ensure that “marriage between a man and a woman is the only legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.”
Although the referendum—which would be the state’s first in 28 years—wouldn’t carry the weight of law, the support of a large majority of voters could pressure lawmakers to respond. And the referendum’s presence on the ballot would ensure a large turnout of right-wing voters in the fall.
But organizers of Fair Illinois, the group formed to review the signatures, say their objective of keeping the referendum off the ballot is well within reach. As a rule, about 70 percent of the signatures filed on voter petitions are legitimate. The rest are invalid for various reasons—they are duplicates, for instance, or the signers aren’t registered to vote or list incorrect addresses.
Protect Illinois, the group that filed the petitions, needs 283,111 signatures to qualify. If 70 percent of the signatures they filed are approved, that would leave them short of the mark, with 241,500 legitimate names.
So far, volunteers are finding a rate of accuracy that is far below 70 percent. “If 40 percent of these names are valid, I’d be surprised,” said Rick Garcia, political director of Equality Illinois. His organization joined forces with Lambda Legal and the ACLU to create Fair Illinois.
“If we have the money and the volunteers, we can do this job,” said attorney Jim Snyder, who’s providing legal assistance to the effort. “This is about endurance,” he said. “This is a war of inches.”
In fewer than three weeks, Fair Illinois has established a massive operation that is teeming with support, although much more is still needed. Working in a makeshift office in a condominium at 3342 N. Halsted St., volunteers stream in and out from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily for four-hour shifts. They check names against a database of registered voters using 20 new donated Dell computers.
Fair Illinois also has operations in Lake, DuPage and Champaign counties, along with a volunteer group camped out in the Cook County Clerk’s office.
Fair Illinois project coordinator Matt Kuzma said volunteers can learn the job in about five minutes. The ease and importance of the work has made it popular with supporters. Many people who show up one day to help return the next day with friends or family members, Kuzma said. Some people drop by for a shift before going to a restaurant or club in the area.
Garcia said the most refreshing aspect of the project has been the number of new faces it’s attracted. Local churches and community groups have supplied numerous volunteers, as have organizations such as Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
“People are very energized over this,” Garcia said. “This is a sleeping giant that (the Christian right) has kicked.”
The work provides instant gratification, Snyder said. When volunteers find bad signatures—which is often—sounds of victory fill the room.
“These petitions are so phony,” said Cathy Calderon, who ended a 20-month hiatus from volunteering in order to be part of the Fair Illinois effort. She held up an invalid petition that was circulated by a person who used two different names—one a man’s name, one a woman’s.
“The gall of these people,” Calderon said. “They think they’re going to put one over on us. It’s not going to happen.”
By Louis Weisberg
Copyright by The Chicago Free Press
It’s a daunting undertaking: determining the validity of 345,000 petition signatures submitted by the Christian right.
And it’s an expensive undertaking: merely obtaining copies of the 65,000 pages of petitions cost $15,000, and other major expenses include legal fees and a truckload of computer equipment.
But it’s an undertaking that activists say is critical to the state’s GLBT civil rights movement, and volunteers are responding in numbers that haven’t been seen in Illinois in many years—perhaps ever.
The goal of this effort is to invalidate enough signatures to prevent an advisory referendum against same-sex marriage from appearing on the state ballot in November. The referendum would ask voters if the General Assembly should amend the state constitution to ensure that “marriage between a man and a woman is the only legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.”
Although the referendum—which would be the state’s first in 28 years—wouldn’t carry the weight of law, the support of a large majority of voters could pressure lawmakers to respond. And the referendum’s presence on the ballot would ensure a large turnout of right-wing voters in the fall.
But organizers of Fair Illinois, the group formed to review the signatures, say their objective of keeping the referendum off the ballot is well within reach. As a rule, about 70 percent of the signatures filed on voter petitions are legitimate. The rest are invalid for various reasons—they are duplicates, for instance, or the signers aren’t registered to vote or list incorrect addresses.
Protect Illinois, the group that filed the petitions, needs 283,111 signatures to qualify. If 70 percent of the signatures they filed are approved, that would leave them short of the mark, with 241,500 legitimate names.
So far, volunteers are finding a rate of accuracy that is far below 70 percent. “If 40 percent of these names are valid, I’d be surprised,” said Rick Garcia, political director of Equality Illinois. His organization joined forces with Lambda Legal and the ACLU to create Fair Illinois.
“If we have the money and the volunteers, we can do this job,” said attorney Jim Snyder, who’s providing legal assistance to the effort. “This is about endurance,” he said. “This is a war of inches.”
In fewer than three weeks, Fair Illinois has established a massive operation that is teeming with support, although much more is still needed. Working in a makeshift office in a condominium at 3342 N. Halsted St., volunteers stream in and out from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily for four-hour shifts. They check names against a database of registered voters using 20 new donated Dell computers.
Fair Illinois also has operations in Lake, DuPage and Champaign counties, along with a volunteer group camped out in the Cook County Clerk’s office.
Fair Illinois project coordinator Matt Kuzma said volunteers can learn the job in about five minutes. The ease and importance of the work has made it popular with supporters. Many people who show up one day to help return the next day with friends or family members, Kuzma said. Some people drop by for a shift before going to a restaurant or club in the area.
Garcia said the most refreshing aspect of the project has been the number of new faces it’s attracted. Local churches and community groups have supplied numerous volunteers, as have organizations such as Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
“People are very energized over this,” Garcia said. “This is a sleeping giant that (the Christian right) has kicked.”
The work provides instant gratification, Snyder said. When volunteers find bad signatures—which is often—sounds of victory fill the room.
“These petitions are so phony,” said Cathy Calderon, who ended a 20-month hiatus from volunteering in order to be part of the Fair Illinois effort. She held up an invalid petition that was circulated by a person who used two different names—one a man’s name, one a woman’s.
“The gall of these people,” Calderon said. “They think they’re going to put one over on us. It’s not going to happen.”
posted by Carlos T Mock at 7:52 PM
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