Mel Thillens, a Republican candidate for the state Senate from District 28, is continuing his call for reform in Illinois by launching a petition to include a referendum on the November ballot that would implement term limits for all state legislators.
"Illinois politicians care more about staying in power than serving their districts," Thillens wrote on his Facebook page last week. "We need term limits."
Thillens has created the petition on his official website. In order to get the proposed reform amendment on the ballot, at least 290,216 registered voters must sign the petition. Once on the ballot, the amendment must be approved by the majority of voters.
The petition comes almost a month after the Independent Map Coalition delivered a truckload of signed petitions to state officials calling for the redrawing of legislative districts by an 11-member commission representing the diversity of the state.
Currently, the state legislature is in charge of drawing the maps.
If the reform amendment is passed, the maps would be drawn without taking into account incumbency or partisanship, and would need to be adopted by seven commissioners, including at least two Democrats and two Republicans.
The coalition says the goal of the redrawn maps is to protect the voting rights of racial and ethnic minorities.
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