Two Illinois counties and a portion of another passed non-binding referendums on Election Day that would encourage their elected officials to engage in discussions about potentially severing ties with the state government, but the votes were hardly a new phenomenon as downstate residents seek to express their displeasure with lawmakers.
“Shall the board of Brown 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,” the question read.
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 that rural counties share different interests that are not being represented by the actions of the General Assembly. On certain occasions, states have been created out of territory that previously belonged to another state, notably with Maine in 1820 and West Virginia in 1863.
Still, many legal experts dispute the idea that a county, or a group of counties, can secede from a state., argues that because of a variety of precedents, including the 1907 Hunter v. City of Pittsburgh decision, counties cannot secede from states because their rights emanate from the state they are located in.
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