Illinois Statutes § 5/28-2 Filing petition for submission of question-Timing

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this Section, petitions for the submission of public questions to referendum must be filed with the appropriate officer or board not less than 92 days prior to a regular election to be eligible for submission on the ballot at such election; and petitions for the submission of a question under Section 18-120 or Section 18-206 of the Property Tax Code must be filed with the appropriate officer or board not more than 10 months nor less than 6 months prior to the election at which such question is to be submitted to the voters.

(b) However, petitions for the submission of a public question to referendum which proposes the creation or formation of a political subdivision must be filed with the appropriate officer or board not less than 122 days prior to a regular election to be eligible for submission on the ballot at such election.

(c) Resolutions or ordinances of governing boards of political subdivisions which initiate the submission of public questions pursuant to law must be adopted not less than 79 days before a regularly scheduled election to be eligible for submission on the ballot at such election.

(d) A petition, resolution or ordinance initiating the submission of a public question may specify a regular election at which the question is to be submitted, and must so specify if the statute authorizing the public question requires submission at a particular election. However, no petition, resolution or ordinance initiating the submission of a public question, other than a legislative resolution initiating an amendment to the Constitution, may specify such submission at an election more than one year, or 15 months in the case of a back door referendum as defined in subsection (f), after the date on which it is filed or adopted, as the case may be. A petition, resolution or ordinance initiating a public question which specifies a particular election at which the question is to be submitted shall be so limited, and shall not be valid as to any other election, other than an emergency referendum ordered pursuant to Section 2A-1.4.

(e) If a petition initiating a public question does not specify a regularly scheduled election, the public question shall be submitted to referendum at the next regular election occurring not less than 92 days after the filing of the petition, or not less than 122 days after the filing of a petition for referendum to create a political subdivision. If a resolution or ordinance initiating a public question does not specify a regularly scheduled election, the public question shall be submitted to referendum at the next regular election occurring not less than 79 days after the adoption of the resolution or ordinance.

(f) In the case of back door referenda, any limitations in another statute authorizing such a referendum which restrict the time in which the initiating petition may be validly filed shall apply to such petition, in addition to the filing deadlines specified in this Section for submission at a particular election. In the case of any back door referendum, the publication of the ordinance or resolution of the political subdivision shall include a notice of (1) the specific number of voters required to sign a petition requesting that a public question be submitted to the voters of the subdivision; (2) the time within which the petition must be filed; and (3) the date of the prospective referendum. The secretary or clerk of the political subdivision shall provide a petition form to any individual requesting one. The legal sufficiency of that form, if provided by the secretary or clerk of the political subdivision, cannot be the basis of a challenge to placing the back door referendum on the ballot. As used herein, a "back door referendum" is the submission of a public question to the voters of a political subdivision, initiated by a petition of voters or residents of such political subdivision, to determine whether an action by the governing body of such subdivision shall be adopted or rejected.

(g) A petition for the incorporation or formation of a new political subdivision whose officers are to be elected rather than appointed must have attached to it an affidavit attesting that at least 122 days and no more than 152 days prior to such election notice of intention to file such petition was published in a newspaper published within the proposed political subdivision, or if none, in a newspaper of general circulation within the territory of the proposed political subdivision in substantially the following form: