Quinn pushes for easier voter referenda rules during COVID-19 crisis, calling it ‘strong medicine for the virus of corruption’

SPRINGFIELD — A group of political activists have filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that the signature requirements to put referenda on the November ballot must be eased because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Perhaps not surprisingly, one of their lawyers is former Gov. Pat Quinn, who stepped onto the political stage more than four decades ago by gathering signatures to put various referenda on the ballot and never kicked the habit.

Today, Quinn is arguing that democracy could be another casualty of COVID-19.

“This is a landmark case. It’s a very, very important case to the whole issue of what is called direct democracy,” said Quinn, who along with the Chicago law firm of Mauck & Baker, LLC, is representing the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of six Illinois voters, who are finding it hard to collect signatures during the pandemic, saying the state’s petition requirements ”unduly burden and violate Plaintiffs’ rights to petition and speech.”

In their lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the plaintiffs said they want the court to issue an order to allow them to collect signatures electronically, to lower the threshold signatures needed to get a question on the ballot by 50 percent and to push back the deadline to turn in signatures.

With state and federal officials issuing guidelines calling for people to socially distance from one another, collecting signatures in person has become a health risk, Quinn said.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times file

“We’re barred from circulating the petition in person, and have to send the petitions electronically to our networks and ask them to share as well, for people to print at home for themselves and those in their household,” said William Morgan, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

To get a constitutional referendum on the ballot in Illinois, the activists would need to collect at least 363,813 signatures by May 3, something that could prove challenging with stay-at-home order in effect until at least April 30. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs said they are asking the court to push back the deadline for statewide petitions to August 3, which would be in line with a deadline for local petitions.

While several state and local officials are named in the lawsuit, only the General Assembly can make changes to the election code, something that is highly unlikely in the next few weeks as the Legislature has not met since early March.

“I will say that I am excited to be sued in my official capacity given the context,” said Devon Reid, the city clerk for Evanston and who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Reid said he supports the online petition form, but said he does not have the power to do it himself.

The plaintiffs are collecting signatures for two petitions that would each require the Illinois General Assembly and the Evanston City Council to conduct a roll call vote on bills proposed by citizens if they meet a petition threshold.

Both the Illinois Libertarian and Green parties filed a similar lawsuit last week alleging the stay-at-home order makes it harder for them to collect the signatures they need in order to get their candidates on the ballot.

Arizona has an online petition form where candidates running for office can solicit signatures for their ballot petition electronically. Both New Jersey and Florida have issued orders during the pandemic allowing candidates for office to collect signatures online.

Long before he served as governor, Quinn carved out a career passing petitions and pushing voter referendums and grass roots politics.

Some were successful, such as his 1975 petition drive to stop state legislators from receiving their full annual salary on the first day on the job and his 1980 Cutback Amendment, which slashed the size of the state House by a third. Others were less successful, including a 1970s petition drive to allow citizens to pass laws through binding referenda.

Two years ago, he launched a petition drive to impose mayoral term limits.

With ethics reform in state government being delayed because of the pandemic, Quinn said the need for reforms via petitions has grown.

“So now our only alternative to really have strong medicine for the virus of corruption in state government, in local government, is to give the voters this opportunity, but it requires digital petition passing to make it possible,” Quinn said.