Nearly one-third of Illinois’ counties have voted to potentially explore creating a new state separate from Cook County, and seven more counties could join them this November.
According to the latest reports from Illinois Separation, a group aiming to get separation referendums onto ballots in the November election, those counties’ boards have approved the non-binding ballot measure for voters to consider later this year.
In all, 33 counties have already voted on similar referendums between 2020 and 2024, and all 33 have approved the measures by wide margins.
According to Loret Newlin of Illinois Separation, Henderson County in western Illinois is the latest to join that list after its county board approved the measure to appear on the November ballot.
That referendum’s language reads as follows:
“Shall the Board of (the county) correspond with the boards of the 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?”
NBC Chicago’s recent documentary “Separation: A State Without Chicago” explored the groups behind the referendums, with both Illinois Separation and New Illinois pushing for the idea and citing Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution.
“New states may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.”
The latest to join that list of counties, Henderson County is located in the western part of the state, and was part of the famed “Forgottonia” movement in the 1960s, which sought to separate western Illinois from the rest of the state over issues related to infrastructure.
Four other counties that were part of that movement have already voted on the separation referendums, and all approved it.
Coles County’s board also approved the measure in April, while Macoupin County approved it in June. Monroe, Hamilton, Saline and Gallatin counties will all vote on the measure in the November election, according to Illinois Separation.
According to the group, Washington County officials could also potentially put the measure on the ballot, with several others also mulling similar referendums.
Still, even if the non-binding referendums pass, the battle is an uphill one. When interviewed for the “Separation” documentary, University of Illinois-Springfield professor Kenneth Owen said the Constitution’s language on creating new states can pose a significant barrier to such an effort succeeding.
“It’s difficult because you have to get a lot of different parties to agree,” he said. “You have to get the home state to agree. You have to get the federal government to agree, and it sits very unevenly with a series of other legal rulings.”
Even if the group were to get state approval, the move would also have to receive the blessing of Congress, which would then have to pass legislation that would then be signed by the president.
Still, Illinois Separation and New Illinois are undeterred, citing the example of Maine, which separated from Massachusetts, and West Virginia, which separated from West Virginia in the 1860s during the Civil War.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has dismissed the idea of separation and says he’s committed to governing fairly for residents in other parts of Illinois away from the Chicago area.
“I do govern for them,” Pritzker said in an interview with NBC Chicago’s Rose Schmidt. “I have treated the voters who didn’t vote for me the same way I have treated the voters who voted for me.”
In a response to NBC Chicago ahead of the release of the documentary, a Pritzker spokesperson called the separation effort a “stunt” and that “it’s not going to happen.”
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul also contested the legality of separating the state.
“The admissions clause grants Congress the power to admit new states and prevents a subdivision of an existing state from breaking away without the state’s consent,” he said in a 2023 editorial.
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