The Electoral Board in Cook County, IL has agreed to dismiss what the NRA called a “bogus petition” to create a referendum on the November ballot asking if the sale of semi-automatic firearms should be banned in Illinois.
The National Rifle Association said it backed a protest filed in response to the referendum petition. The petition asked, “Shall the Governor and the members of the Illinois General Assembly enact legislation to ban the sale of semi-automatic and assault weapons that are used by criminals to threaten the lives of law enforcement and the people of Illinois?” NRA member Selvin Morgan, a resident of Cook County, filed the objection to this petition and the NRA supported him in this effort.
The names, addresses and signatures of more than 83,000 Cook County residents were needed for the question raised by the petition to make it on to the ballot. The petitioner submitted information for only a fraction of that requirement, but tried to proceed anyway. Many of the entries even lacked valid names, addresses and signatures.
This petition and Morgan’s protest to the petition were the subject of a hearing before the Cook County Electoral Board on August 17th. At that time, the NRA assisted Morgan in asking that this referendum be stricken from the ballot. On August 20th, the board agreed with Morgan and the NRA, saying that the petitioner had a “failure to have a sufficient number of valid signatures.”
