Gay Marriage Ban Collects Enough Signatures for Illinois Referendum

[AtLiberty]

'Protect Marriage Illinois' Coalition to Deliver Over 345,000 Signatures Today to Qualify Referendum for Ballot in November

5/8/2006 7:22:00 AM

News Release, May 8, 2006

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois--Volunteers from across the state will be in the capital today to hand-deliver 345,199 signatures to the Board of Elections--to place a referendum on the November ballot asking if the General Assembly should amend the Illinois constitution to declare that "marriage between a man and a woman is the only legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State."

http://www.illinoisfamily.org/news/contentview.asp?c=32846

[mopinko]

1. now what?

how much of a margin is this? i just know these sigs are crap. what is the procedure to check/challenge this?

[tritsofme]

2. I doubt it

It can't be that hard for a well financed organized campaign to find that many people.

The article goes on to say this:

283,111 signatures of registered voters is required to get the referendum on the ballot, but PMI volunteers will deliver tens of thousands more than that.

[mopinko]

3. in for a penny, in for a pound

just like stealing elections- steal enough to claim to have a bullet proof majority. otherwise you invite an audit.
how much money got spent on this anyway? these guys have been out trying to get sigs from people on the way into the white sox games, which stuck me as desperate.

[dogman]

4. PFAW IL wants help to challenge this.

On Monday, May 8, the right-wing Illinois Family Institute submitted an estimated 345,199 signatures to the Illinois State Board of Elections to get a marriage amendment referendum on the November ballot (they needed 283,111). The so-called Family Institute is seeking to write discrimination into the Illinois Constitution with a ban on marriage equality. PFAW’s Illinois Office has joined the campaign to defeat this hateful amendment, and the best way to do that, is to keep it off the ballot.

The Fair Illinois coalition, of which PFAW IL is a member, believes that many of the signatures submitted are invalid under Illinois law. With our allies, we are mobilizing to uphold Illinois election law and challenge invalid and false signatures. By mid-June we need to check each and every one of the over 300,000 signatures submitted. Experts tell us that our chances are good – the Family Institute needs 83% of their signatures to be valid (a very high percentage). We can definitely win this and keep the amendment off the ballot, but only if we have enough volunteers checking signatures.

Upon delivering the petitions, David E. Smith of the Illinois Family Institute called gay and lesbian families “an infection that is dangerous to the absolute institution of marriage.” This is the kind of intolerance we are up against. Please join us in this fight.

Volunteer your time starting this Saturday, May 13
8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Cook County Clerk’s Office
69 W. Washington, 5th Floor

Sign up by emailing [e-mail] or call PFAW at 312.726.2179.

[tritsofme]

6. I almost want to see it on the ballot.

Couldn't it make us the first state to defeat a ban on gay marriage at the ballot box?

[mopinko]

8. i'd rather be the state that puts an end to their cheating

they cheat when they don't even have to. i would rather see this completely blown out of the water.
i also would like to trace the money.

[Xeric]

5. If you don't think this matters...

Keep in mind that having this issue on the ballot energizes the Repuke crackpot base and will get them to the polls. It could mean the difference in some races we hope to win, particularly the congressional races. Democrats should help out if they can to get this thrown out. The bigots expected a half million sigs but got just enough to make a go of it. It should not be hard to disqualify enough to get it thrown out. I'm surprised some of those dim bulbs could even sign their own name.

[mopinko]

7. it's not the fundies, it's the smokescreen.

i don't think this stuff fires up the base, i think it gives them a smoke screen to cover vote fraud.

[DPvE]

9. If you don't think this matters...

I suppose I'm a little late entering into this discussion, but I have a question. I agree that the purpose of the measure is to inspire right-wingers, but shouldn't it inspire us on the left, too? Can't we use our opposition to this amendment to fire up our lefty friends? I hope so!

[mopinko]

10. welcome to du

don't take this the wrong way, but at this point who can marry whom seems like a minute problem. i think the real bonus for them in things like this is that it fires their base, and tires ours.
but i really think that only the machines vote for these things. they are a smoke screen for fraud, no more.

[Bjornsdotter]

11. Welcome to DU!

I agree, I think it will inspire those RWers who may have given the election a pass a reason to go to the polls. I can tell you that in my little corner the homophobic crowd will be out in full force if this makes the ballot.

Cheers

[ieoeja]

12. Is it too late to place OUR referendum on the ballot?

Something along the lines of: "Should the General Assembly amend the Illinois constitution to permit marriage 'between any two adults of the same or different race, religion or gender' overriding any previous article or amendment of the constitution that limited marriage on any of these bases?"

Can we think of other restrictions to forbid that might convince people to vote for such a referendum?