A 51st state? Illinois county voters asked to explore seceding

Another group of Illinois counties has voted to explore whether they should secede from the state, citing significant differences with Cook County and suburban voters.

A total of seven counties faced a ballot question on exploring the idea of secession, and all seven voted in favor of the proposal, according to county clerks' offices.

Here was the language voters saw on their ballots:

"Shall the board of (the 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?"

Here's how the votes came out:

Iroquois County

With all 37 of the county's precincts reporting , 72.85% of votes were in favor of the advisory question, with more than 9,000 "yes" votes counted.

U.S. & WorldCalhoun County

With the county's five precincts reporting, 76.63% of votes were in favor of the advisory question.

Clinton County

With 34 precincts reporting, the "yes" vote on the question is winning with 73% of the vote.

Green County

With 22 precincts reporting, "yes" votes carried the measure, with 74.2% of respondents casting votes in the affirmative.

Jersey County

Approximately 76.4% of votes cast were in favor of the advisory question.

Madison County

In one of the closer votes, 56.5% of votes were cast in favor of exploring splitting from Cook County.

Perry County

With 27 precincts reporting, Perry County voters cast ballots in favor of exploring a split, with 71.6% of voters casting "yes" votes.

Prior to this year's election cycle, at least two dozen counties have already voted affirmatively on the non-binding initiatives.

The reasoning behind the referendums, according to supporters, is that the city of Chicago and Cook County have a sizable impact on the policies enacted by the state legislature, and rural counties share different interests that are not being represented by the actions of the General Assembly.

Many legal experts have expressed skepticism that such an effort could ever be successful. That group includes Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who penned a letter to the state's attorney of Jersey County on the issue in 2023.

"The Illinois Constitution of 1970 does not grant non-home-rule counties the power to secede from the state of Illinois," he found.

He also held that the state's Election Code does not contain provisions allowing counties the power to hold binding referendums on whether or not they can secede from Illinois.