Ballot Questions

Organizing Around an Official You Want Out of Office

If you want a local official out of office in Illinois, the paths you can count on are the ones that run through elections: recruit or become a candidate to run against them, use a ballot question to put a specific decision in front of voters, and build an organization of neighbors who show up at meetings and at the polls. Whether recall is available for a local official is a separate question that the state's election guidance does not answer; to find out, read your municipality's code and talk with an election attorney.

The timing for the next round is set. Candidates for offices on the April 6, 2027 ballot (school, park, library, community college and fire protection boards, most nonpartisan villages, and independent and new-party municipal candidates) file from November 16 to 23, 2026. Citizen petitions for public questions on that ballot are due January 4, 2027. If the official you are concerned about is on the February 23, 2027 track, filing for that track closes October 26, 2026.

This guide walks through each option in order, with the steps that apply in Illinois. For the full set of ballot question topics, see our guide to Illinois ballot questions.

Step 1: Check whether recall is an option

Start by settling the recall question for your own situation, so you are not planning around something that may not exist.

• For the Governor, the Illinois Constitution provides a recall process (Art. III, Sec. 7). Our explainer on recall in Illinois covers it step by step.
• For local officials, the sources we rely on (the State Board of Elections 2027 Candidate's Guide, its 2027 calendar, Article 28 of the Election Code, and Article III of the Constitution) do not address recall. Read your municipality's code, ask the clerk and your local election official, and consult an election attorney before you spend volunteer time on a petition.

Whatever you learn, the options below are worth considering, because they are available either way.

Step 2: Find out when the seat is next on the ballot

The most direct path is the next election for that seat. Find out:

• When the official's term ends. Ask the clerk or check the unit's records. School board terms are 4 years, or 6 where voters have approved it by public question.
• Which election that seat is on. For 2027, local offices are on either the February 23 track or the April 6 track. No township offices are on the 2027 ballot; they are next elected in April 2029.
• What it takes to run. Your election authority can tell you the signature requirement for that office.

If the seat is up in 2027, you have weeks, not months, to decide. If it is not, you have time to build.

Step 3: Recruit a candidate, or run yourself

Elections replace officials more reliably than anything else. A credible candidate needs:

• Eligibility. Each office has its own qualifications. For school board, for example, a candidate must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18, a resident of the district for one year before the election, and a registered voter (105 ILCS 5/10-10).
• A petition. For the April 6 track, sheets could be circulated from August 25, 2026, and filing is November 16 to 23, 2026. Each sheet is signed in ink by registered voters, with a notarized circulator statement. School board candidates need at least 50 signatures or 10% of the voters in the district, whichever is less (105 ILCS 5/9-10). Independents for municipal office need at least 5% of the people who voted at the last regular election, and may file no more than 8% (or 50 more than the minimum, whichever is greater) (10 ILCS 5/10-3).
• A margin. Objections strike signatures. Many campaigns aim for 1.5 to 2 times the minimum; that is common practice, not law.
• Supporters and volunteers. That is the organization in Step 5.

If no one steps forward, consider a slate: two or three candidates for a board with several open seats, sharing volunteers and a message. A board majority can change direction in one election.

Our post on circulating a nominating petition covers the petition side in detail.

Step 4: Use a ballot question for a specific decision

Sometimes the problem is one decision, not one person. A ballot question can put that decision in front of voters.

• Advisory questions. Registered voters can petition to put an advisory question on the ballot in their municipality, township, county or school district. It needs signatures equal to at least 8% of the votes cast for Governor in that unit at the preceding gubernatorial election, and it has no legal effect (10 ILCS 5/28-6). What it does give you is an official, public count of where voters stand.
• Binding questions. These need a statute or the Constitution that authorizes them (10 ILCS 5/28-1). Article VII questions, such as home rule, can be started by petition with 8% of the Governor vote (10 ILCS 5/28-7).
• Back-door referendums. Where a statute provides for one, voters can petition to force a board action onto the ballot so voters decide whether it is adopted or rejected (10 ILCS 5/28-2(f)). The board's published notice states the signatures needed, the deadline and the referendum date.

For April 6, 2027, citizen petitions are due January 4, 2027. No more than three public questions can usually appear for one political subdivision at the same election, with exceptions, and the first three validly initiated go on (28-1). Our post on getting a question on the local ballot walks through the steps.

A ballot question also builds the list you will need for Step 3. Every door you knock for signatures is a neighbor whose view you now know.

Step 5: Build an organization that lasts

Whichever path you choose, the work is the same: find the neighbors who agree with you and keep them together.

1. Show up in public. Attend meetings, speak during public comment, and keep notes on votes and decisions. Stay specific and civil; your goal is to persuade neighbors who are not yet paying attention.
2. Start a supporter list. Collect names and contact information from people who want to stay involved. If you want to text them later, the sign-up sheet must say plainly that they agree to receive texts, with the date recorded.
3. Map your community. Know which streets you have reached and which you have not.
4. Check the money rules. Groups or individuals who raise or spend more than $5,000 in any 12-month period for or against a candidate or public question generally must file a Form D-1 with the State Board of Elections and become a political committee (10 ILCS 5/9-3). Keep a running total from the start.
5. Plan past one election. If your first effort falls short, the list and the volunteers you built are the start of the next one.

Step 6: Go door to door

Every one of these paths ends at people's doors: collecting petition signatures, finding candidates' supporters, persuading undecided voters on a ballot question, and turning out the people who agree with you.

Put your district on a map and work it street by street. In Beacon, import the voters in your village, ward or school district from a CSV file (name, address, precinct and party columns map automatically), see them as walk lists on a map, divide the area into turfs, and assign each turf to a specific volunteer with an optimized route. At each door, record the result (contacted, not home, refused, moved, come back later, left literature), a 1 to 5 rating and notes. Use the survey builder to ask what you need to know, such as "Concerned about [issue]: yes / no / unsure," "Would sign a petition: yes / no" or "Would volunteer: yes / no." The app works offline and syncs later, real-time tracking shows which turfs are moving, and every plan includes unlimited canvassers. If your effort becomes both a ballot question and a candidate race, you can run them as separate campaigns under one organization. When you know where your neighbors stand, you know whether you have a candidate's base, a ballot question's signatures, or both.

Keep it civil and nonpartisan in tone

Organizing against an official can turn personal quickly. The efforts that persuade the most people stay focused on decisions and results: what was voted on, what it cost, what changed. Voters who have not followed the issue respond to specifics, not anger.

The calendar at a glance

Confirm every date and requirement with your election authority.

Start with the map

Change at the local level usually starts with a few people who know their streets. Start a 14-day Beacon trial and put your district on the map. To see how Beacon supports candidates and local campaigns, visit Beacon for political campaigns.