Ballot Questions

Collecting Signatures for a Local Public Question in Illinois

To collect signatures for a local public question in Illinois, you need three things: the right number, the right paper and the right people carrying it. For a citizen advisory question, the minimum is 8% of the total votes cast for Governor at the preceding gubernatorial election by registered voters of your municipality, township, county or school district (10 ILCS 5/28-6(a)). For a binding question, the statute that authorizes it sets the number. Every signature goes on a uniform, numbered sheet with the question in the heading, signed in person by a registered voter of the unit, with a circulator statement sworn before a notary at the bottom (10 ILCS 5/28-3).

For the April 6, 2027 election, the filing deadline is January 4, 2027, and objections are due a week later, on January 11. That gives a petition drive starting now roughly three months, with the holidays in the middle. The steps below are how to use that time well. For the wider picture of ballot questions, see our guide to Illinois ballot questions.

Confirm your exact signature number and filing office with your local election official before you start. This guide is practical advice, not legal advice.

Step 1: Get the minimum, then set a real goal

Ask the office where you will file for the minimum in writing if they will give it. For a 28-6 advisory question, they will apply the 8% rule to the Governor vote in your unit.

Then set a goal above it. Objections strike signatures for reasons that are easy to miss at the door: a signer registered at a different address, a signer outside the unit's boundaries, a spouse signing for a partner. Many candidate campaigns aim for 1.5 to 2 times the minimum. That is common practice, not law, but it is a reasonable target for a public question. Our post on petition signature margin explains the math.

Example only: if your minimum is 600, a goal of 1,000 to 1,200 gives you room for a bad batch of sheets and a determined objector.

Step 2: Print sheets that will survive

The petition format is set by 10 ILCS 5/28-3. Before anyone circulates:

• Use uniform sheets. All the same size.
• Put the same heading on every sheet, stating the question and the territory, exactly as it will be filed. Fill it in before the sheet goes out; do not let circulators hand-write it.
• Leave room for addresses. Signers give their address next to their signature.
• Include the circulator statement at the bottom of every sheet, to be sworn before a notary or other officer authorized to administer oaths.
• Plan to bind and number the sheets before filing. Only originals are filed, never copies.

Have an attorney check the heading and question wording before you print. Once people sign, you cannot change the sheet.

Signatures are collected in ink on paper. There is no electronic option for an Illinois public question petition, and a signature collected any other way will not count.

Step 3: Recruit and brief your circulators

A circulator for a public question petition must be at least 18 and a U.S. citizen (10 ILCS 5/28-3). Each circulator signs the statement at the bottom of their own sheets, so the person who signs the statement must be the person who watched those signatures happen. One sheet, one circulator.

Brief every circulator on the basics before their first shift:

• Only registered voters of the unit can sign. Not just residents, not visitors, not people who used to live there.
• Each person signs for themselves. No signing for a spouse or a roommate.
• Get the full address. Street number and name, as the voter is registered.
• Use a pen with dark ink. It reads clearly and holds up if the sheets are examined.
• Never let a sheet out of your sight. If you did not watch it being signed, you cannot swear that you did.
• Bring the sheets back unsigned at the bottom. The circulator statement is signed in front of the notary.

Example only: a drive needing 1,200 signatures over ten weekends might plan for 15 to 20 regular circulators. Your numbers will depend on your district's density and how many doors open.

Step 4: Map the district and route your volunteers

Where you collect matters as much as how many people you send. Tables at the library and grocery store work, but you will collect signatures from people outside your unit, and you will not always know it. Going door to door to registered voters inside your boundaries gives you better signatures and a record of where you have been.

Build and route your walk list. In Beacon, import the registered voters in your unit from a CSV file (name, address, precinct and party columns map automatically) and see them as walk lists on a map. Split the district into turfs and assign each one to a specific circulator or pair, so nobody walks a street someone else already covered. Route optimization orders the doors so each shift covers its turf efficiently. At every door, the circulator records the result: contacted, not home, refused, moved, come back later or left literature. Add a survey question, "Signed petition: yes / no," and a second one if you also want to know "Supports the question: yes / no / undecided" for the campaign that follows. Beacon does not hold the signature; that lives on the paper sheet. The app tracks the walking. It works offline in neighborhoods with weak signal and syncs when the phone reconnects, and real-time tracking shows the coordinator which turfs are moving. Every plan includes unlimited canvassers, so adding a new volunteer mid-drive costs nothing extra.

Doors marked "not home" or "come back later" become the second pass. Doors marked "moved" are worth noting for the campaign, because those voters may no longer be registered at that address.

Step 5: Run a weekly rhythm

A three-month drive with a holiday break needs a steady routine.

• Weekends: door-to-door shifts, two to three hours each, in pairs where possible.
• Weekday evenings: short shifts in dense neighborhoods, plus pickups of completed sheets.
• One fixed night a week: sheet check and notary session. Circulators bring their sheets, sign the statement in front of the notary, and hand them to the sheet keeper.
• Weekly count: total signatures, signatures you are confident in, and turf left to walk.

Build in the holidays. December weekends are shorter and colder, and many volunteers travel. Front-load November and the first half of December so the last two weeks are cleanup, not panic.

Step 6: Check sheets as they come in

Do not wait until January to look at your sheets. Each week:

• Confirm the heading is identical on every sheet.
• Confirm each circulator statement is complete, signed and notarized.
• Spot-check signers against the voter list. Lines that do not match a registered voter in the unit are at risk.
• Flag sheets with problems and decide whether to keep collecting on fresh sheets instead.

Keep a running count of the signatures you are confident in, not just the raw total. That is the number that tells you whether you are on track.

Step 7: Bind, number and file

Before filing:

1. Put the sheets in order and number them consecutively.
2. Bind them securely at one edge, like a book, so no sheet can slip out.
3. Make your own copy of every sheet for your records, and keep it separate from the originals.
4. File the originals with the correct office by January 4, 2027, as early as you can. Get a receipt.

Step 8: Prepare for objections

Any legal voter of the political subdivision can object to your petition, with the same office where you filed (10 ILCS 5/10-8). For April 6, 2027, objections are due January 11, 2027, and an electoral board hears them. If you get one, your copy of the sheets and your weekly checks become your preparation. Our post on petition objections in Illinois covers how the hearing works.

Step 9: Keep the list you built

Every door you knocked during the petition drive is information for the campaign. The voters who signed are likely supporters. The voters who refused are likely opponents. The ones who were undecided are your persuasion list. If you recorded those results in Beacon, they are already on the map when the campaign starts.

One caution: signing a petition is not permission to receive texts. If you want to text supporters later, ask for consent separately, on a sheet that says so plainly, with the date recorded.

Quick checklist

• Minimum confirmed with the filing office
• Goal set with a margin
• Heading and question reviewed by an attorney
• Uniform sheets printed, headings filled in
• Circulators briefed: registered voters of the unit only, each person signs for themselves, never leave a sheet
• District mapped and split into turfs
• Weekly notary night and sheet check
• Sheets bound, numbered and filed by January 4, 2027
• Copies kept for objection week

Put your circulators on the map

A petition drive is a field operation with a hard deadline. To give every circulator a routed turf and see which streets are done, start a 14-day Beacon trial. For more on how Beacon supports local races and questions, see Beacon for political campaigns.