Some of you may have received a mailer today from the Illinois Sec. of State and others might have seen the new proposed amendment to the Illinois Constitution in the Effingham Daily News today (Page A9). 

While on the surface, this amendment seems like a good idea, deep down this amendment is seriously flawed. 

First, after an affidavit to recall the Governor has been filed (after the Governor has been in office 6 months), the petitioners must get at least 15% of the total votes from the last gubernatorial with at least 100 signatures from 25 different counties.  If you look back at the 2006 gubernatorial election where 3,486, 671 people voted, the petitioners would have to get a minimum of 523,000 signatures.  Actually, the petitioners would have to bump that up to about 700,000 signatures in order to have a buffer against the lawyers tossing names off the petitions.  So that's 700,000 signatures, but the other kicker is you must get those 700,000 signatures within 150 days of the affidavit to recall having been filed.  To put that in perspective, the petitioners would have to average about 4,667 signatures a day to reach the magic mark of 700,000. 

But it gets better!  Remember the affidavit part before circulating petitions?  That affidavit must first be signed by 20 representatives from the Illinois House and 10 from the Illinois Senate - BUT - half of the 20 from the Illinois House must be of the sitting Governor's party and 5 of the 10 from the Illinois Senate must be of the sitting Governor's party. 

What are the chances that any petitioner will find 15 members a sitting Governor's party to sign off on an affidavit for recall?!  And that's before you have get all those signatures in 150 days!

In the end, the Illinois Recall Amendment is a joke and is another feel good "reform" that has zero meaning.