Ballot Questions

Beacon for Referendum Campaigns in Illinois

A referendum campaign is a door-knocking campaign with an unusual shape: you are not selling a person, you are explaining a question, and the same voter may need more than one conversation before they decide. Beacon helps a referendum committee do that work. It routes petition walks if your question needs signatures, organizes persuasion conversations once the question is certified, and builds a list of supporters to turn out before April 6, 2027. Walk lists sit on a map, each door gets a result and survey answers, and unlimited volunteers can walk on any plan.

This post covers where Beacon fits in each phase of an Illinois local referendum, where the law draws lines a canvass has to respect, and what a realistic setup and budget look like.

First, who is canvassing

Illinois law says public funds may not be used to urge a vote for or against a public question, though a public body may share factual information (10 ILCS 5/9-25.1). In practice, that means the yes or no campaign is typically run not by the school district, park district or village that put the question on the ballot, but by a separate committee of residents, with its own money and volunteers.

That committee has its own obligations. Groups that raise or spend more than $5,000 in any 12-month period in support of or in opposition to a public question generally must file a Statement of Organization (Form D-1) with the Illinois State Board of Elections within 10 business days of crossing the threshold, or within 2 business days in the 30 days before the election (10 ILCS 5/9-3). In-kind contributions count. Confirm your committee's obligations with ISBE or an election attorney.

Our guide to Illinois ballot questions covers the rules in full.

Phase 1: Getting on the ballot (when signatures are needed)

Not every question needs a petition. Some questions are placed by a board resolution; for the April 6, 2027 election, board resolutions are due January 19, 2027. But some questions start with residents:

• Citizen-initiated advisory questions need signatures from at least 8% of the total votes cast for Governor in the preceding gubernatorial election by the registered voters of the municipality, township, county or school district (10 ILCS 5/28-6). These questions are advisory only; no legal effect follows from the result.
• Other binding questions follow the statute that authorizes them, which sets the signature count, who may sign and where to file. There is no single statewide number.
• April 6, 2027 dates: petitions due January 4, 2027; objections due January 11; questions certified to the election authority by January 28.

Petition sheets follow rules close to candidate petitions: uniform sheets with the question and territory in the same heading on every sheet, signed in person by registered voters with their addresses, a circulator who is a U.S. citizen at least 18 years old, and a circulator statement sworn before an officer authorized to administer oaths. Sheets are bound, numbered and originals only (10 ILCS 5/28-3).

Where Beacon does the work. Import the registered voters in the territory as a CSV (name, address, precinct and party columns map automatically), then route the walk list on the map. At each door, record the result and a survey answer, "Signed: yes / no." Territory management splits the area and assigns each section to a specific circulator, so two circulators never knock the same street. Per-territory contact and contacted counts show how far each section has gone, and you can export survey responses to CSV to total the "signed: yes" answers against your goal. The signatures themselves go on the official sheet in ink; Beacon tracks the walking.

Phase 2: Persuasion

Once the question is certified, the campaign changes. Many voters have not heard of the question, or have heard one line about it. Your volunteers are there to explain what the question does and listen.

Where Beacon does the work.

• Survey builder. Write questions that fit your measure: "Position: yes / leaning yes / undecided / leaning no / no," "Main concern: cost / need / trust / other," "Wants more information: yes / no." Each answer is recorded per door.
• Notes and a 1 to 5 rating. A volunteer can write "worried about the tax bill, wants the per-household estimate" so the next visit starts where the last one ended.
• Come back later. Doors where someone asked for a return visit are marked with that result, so your second pass can go to the people who invited it.
• Analytics and exports. Each territory shows its contact and contacted counts. Export survey responses to CSV to see where the undecided doors cluster; that is where your next weekend goes.
• AI script coach (add-on). Referendum conversations are harder than candidate ones because the facts matter. Volunteers can practice explaining the question before they knock.

Keep the conversation factual and accurate. Volunteers should explain what the ballot language says and point people to the official notice from the election authority.

Phase 3: Turnout

Early voting for the April 6 election opens February 25, 2027 (or March 12 where a February primary ran). By then, your survey answers have done something useful: they tell you which households said yes or leaning yes.

Where Beacon does the work. Export the survey responses to CSV, pull the yes and leaning-yes households, and import them as a separate turnout campaign; one organization can run several campaigns. Then return to those doors through early voting and the last weekend, with a simple question: "Have you voted yet?" Mark the result. Real-time tracking shows progress during a busy final weekend, and offline mode keeps volunteers recording on streets with weak signal. On Growth and above, live GPS and geofencing help a coordinator keep a large volunteer team in the right areas.

A worked example

This is an illustration, not a forecast. Every district and question is different.

The committee: residents supporting a park district question on the April 6, 2027 ballot, placed there by board resolution. Twelve volunteers, most available on weekends. The committee expects to spend more than $5,000 and files its D-1 within 10 business days of crossing the threshold.

• January: set up Beacon, import the voter list, write the survey, split the district into twelve territories and assign one to each volunteer.
• Late January to February 24: persuasion walks on weekends. Every door gets a position answer; undecided doors with a concern noted are flagged for a return visit.
• February 25 to April 5: turnout. Volunteers walk the turnout campaign built from yes and leaning-yes answers.
• Election week: final pass on yes doors that have not confirmed voting.

Sizing the plan. Beacon is priced by contacts, not volunteers, so twelve volunteers cost the same as two. If the territory's voter list is around 8,000 contacts, Growth ($129 a month, or $103 billed annually, up to 10,000 contacts) fits and adds live GPS and geofencing. A small advisory question in one village might fit Starter ($59 a month, $47 annually, 2,500 contacts). A countywide question would size to Pro (25,000) or Business (50,000).

Things a referendum canvass should not do

• Do not canvass on public time or with public resources. The committee runs the campaign. If a volunteer also works for the district, they campaign on their own time.
• Do not overstate what an advisory question does. A citizen-initiated advisory question has no legal effect on its own. Say so plainly.
• Do not lose the paper. If you circulated a petition, the original sheets are what count. Keep them clean, bound and safe.

For a longer look at turning door results into a record you can use again, see knowing every door: from paper walk sheets to a precinct file. Our political campaigns page shows how Beacon fits campaigns and committees of every size.

Start with one turf

Load one volunteer's turf, write your position question, and walk it this weekend. You will see quickly whether the record it builds is worth having in March. Try Beacon free for 14 days.