'Con-Con' referendum to go before voters as-is

CHICAGO-An Illinois appellate court Thursday upheld a recent Cook County Circuit Court ruling that flawed ballots will go out to voters as-is.

Specifically, there are problems with the constitutional convention question on the ballot. Cook County Judge Nathaniel Howse Jr. ruled that although the Con-Con ballot language is "misleading and inaccurate," he said it was too close to the election to make any radical changes to the disputed ballots.

Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and the Chicago Bar Association petitioned the appeals court to stay millions of ballots and to expeditiously review Howse's ruling. They also asked the state Supreme Court to hear the case.

The justices declined and remanded the case to the appellate court earlier this week.

Controversy over the ballots arose after they were certified with inaccurate language stating that not voting on the referendum amounts to a "no" vote.

Ballots also say the last constitutional convention referendum, which was held in 1988, failed. Howse ruled that inclusion of that information was inappropriate.

The Illinois Constitution requires voters to consider the convention question every 20 years.