Tuesday, November 27, 2007

On the ballot next year

Next year in addition to deciding voting for US Senator, our representatives in the General Assembly, President of the United States among other offices there's another thing voters are being asked to consider next year. In 2008 voters are to determine whether we should convene a constitution convention to consider changes to the current state constitution. The current Illinois Constitution was written in 1970.

A provision in Article XIV (fourteen) section 1 clause b requires that every 20 years that a question with regards to a constitution convention is placed on the ballot by the Secretary of State for consideration by voters. The last time Illinois voters voted on a constitution convention was back in 1988 where it failed with 900,109 votes in favor of a convention, 2,727,144 against the convention, and 1,069,939 didn't make a choice.

I want to bring to your attention this program from the Illinois Channel where a panel is discussing the possibility of this convention and the issues that would come up at this convention. Some of the people you might know at this panel are Lt. Governor Pat Quinn, former state comptroller and gubernatorial candidate Dawn Clark Netsch, and you may not have heard from him but if you follow state politics expect to hear about him more, State Rep. John Fritchey. It's a very interesting discussion that is had here and I wanted to share this with you.

If you have a broadband connection watch this program right now online at the Illinois Channel website. But you can also watch this on the air on both Saturday and Sunday mornings on CAN-TV in the city of Chicago. On Saturdays Illinois Channel programming airs on CAN-TV channel 21 from 9AM to 11AM and on Sundays on CAN-TV channel 19 from 8:30AM to 10:30 AM.

Additional reading
Illinois Constitution at Wikipedia

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