10 ILCS 5/ Election Code.

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10 ILCS 5/28-9

(10 ILCS 5/28-9) (from Ch. 46, par. 28-9)

Sec. 28-9.

Petitions for proposed amendments to Article IV of the
Constitution pursuant to Section 3, Article XIV of the Constitution shall be
signed by a number of electors equal in number to at least 8% of the total
votes cast for candidates for Governor in the preceding gubernatorial election.
 Such petition shall have been signed by the petitioning electors not more than
24 months preceding the general election at which the proposed amendment is to
be submitted and shall be filed with the Secretary of State at least 6 months
before that general election.

Upon receipt of a petition for a proposed Constitutional amendment, the
Secretary of State shall, as soon as is practicable, but no later than the
close of the next business day, deliver such petition to the State Board of
Elections.

Petitions for advisory questions of public policy to be submitted to the
voters of the entire State shall be signed by a number of voters
equal in number to 8% of the total votes cast for candidates for Governor in
the preceding gubernatorial election.  Such  petition shall have been signed by
said petitioners not more than 24 months preceding the date of the general
election at which the question is to be submitted and shall be filed with the
State Board of Elections at least 6 months before that general election.

The proponents of the proposed statewide advisory
public question shall file the original petition in bound 
sections.  Each section shall be composed of consecutively numbered petition
sheets containing only the signatures of registered voters.
Any petition sheets not consecutively numbered or which contain duplicate
page numbers already used on other sheets, or are photocopies or duplicates
of the original sheets, shall not be considered part of the petition for
the purpose of the random sampling verification and shall not be counted
toward the minimum number of signatures required to qualify the proposed
 statewide advisory public question for the ballot.

Within 7 business days following the last day for filing the original
petition, the proponents shall also file copies of the petition sheets with each proper election authority
and obtain a receipt therefor.

For purposes of this Act, the following terms shall be defined and construed
as follows:

1. "Board" means the State Board of Elections.

2. "Election Authority" means a county clerk or city or county board of
election commissioners.

3. (Blank).

4. "Proponents" means any person, association, committee, organization
or other group, or their designated representatives, who advocate and cause
the circulation and filing of petitions for a statewide advisory question
of public policy or a proposed constitutional amendment for submission at
a general election and who has registered with the Board as provided in
this Act.

5. "Opponents" means any person, association, committee, organization
or other group, or their designated representatives, who oppose a statewide
advisory question of public policy or a proposed constitutional amendment
for submission at a general election and who have registered with the Board
as provided in this Act.

(Source: P.A. 97-81, eff. 7-5-11; 98-1171, eff. 6-1-15.)

10 ILCS 5/28-10

(10 ILCS 5/28-10) (from Ch. 46, par. 28-10)

Sec. 28-10. (Repealed).

(Source: P.A. 97-81, eff. 7-5-11. Repealed by P.A. 98-1171, eff. 6-1-15.)

10 ILCS 5/28-11

(10 ILCS 5/28-11) (from Ch. 46, par. 28-11)

Sec. 28-11.

The Board shall design a standard and scientific random
sampling method for the verification of petition signatures for statewide advisory referenda and shall conduct
a public test to prove the validity of its sampling method.  Notice of the
time and place for such test shall be given at least 10 days before the date
on which such test is to be conducted and in the manner prescribed for notice
of regular Board meetings. Signatures on petitions for constitutional amendments initiated pursuant to Article XIV, Section 3 of the Illinois Constitution need not be segregated by election jurisdiction.  The Board shall design an alternative signature verification method for referenda initiated pursuant to Article XIV, Section 3 of the Illinois Constitution.

Within 14 business days following the last day for the filing
of the original petition
as prescribed in Section 28-9, the Board shall apply its proven random sampling
method to the petition sheets in each election jurisdiction section for
the purpose of selecting and identifying the petition signatures to be included
in the sample signature verification for the respective jurisdictions and
shall prepare and transmit to each proper election authority a list by page
and line number of the signatures from its election jurisdiction selected
for verification.

For each election jurisdiction, the sample verification shall include an
examination of either (a) 10% of the signatures if 5,010 or more signatures
are involved; or (b) 500 signatures if more than 500 but less than 5,010
signatures are involved; or (c) all signatures if 500 or less signatures are involved.

Each election authority with whom jurisdictional copies of petition sheets
were filed shall use the proven random sampling method designed and furnished
by the Board for the verification of signatures shown on the list supplied
by the Board and in accordance with the following criteria for determination
of petition signature validity:

1. Determine if the person who signed the petition is

a registered voter in that election jurisdiction or was a registered voter therein on the date the petition was signed;

2. Determine if the signature of the person who

signed the petition reasonably compares with the signature shown on that person's registration record card.

Within 14 business days following receipt from the Board of the
list of signatures
for verification, each election authority shall transmit a properly dated
certificate to the Board which shall indicate; (a) the page and line number
of petition signatures examined, (b) the validity or invalidity of such signatures,
and (c) the reasons for invalidity, based on the criteria heretofore prescribed.
The Board shall prepare and adopt a standard form of certificate for use
by the election authorities which shall be transmitted with the list of
signatures for verification.

Upon written request of the election authority that, due to the volume
of signatures in the sample for its jurisdiction, additional time is needed
to properly perform the signature verification, the Board may grant the
election authority additional days to complete the verification and transmit
the certificate of results.  These certificates of random sample verification
results shall be available for public inspection within 24 hours after receipt
by the State Board of Elections.

(Source: P.A. 97-81, eff. 7-5-11.)

10 ILCS 5/28-12

(10 ILCS 5/28-12) (from Ch. 46, par. 28-12)

Sec. 28-12.

Upon receipt of the certificates of the election authorities
showing the results of the sample signature verification, the Board shall:

1. Based on the sample, calculate the ratio of

invalid or valid signatures in each election jurisdiction.

2. Apply the ratio of invalid to valid signatures in

an election jurisdiction sample to the total number of petition signatures submitted from that election jurisdiction.

3. Compute the degree of multiple signature

contamination in each election jurisdiction sample.

4. Adjust for multiple signature contamination and

the invalid signatures, project the total number of valid petition signatures submitted from each election jurisdiction.

5. Aggregate the total number of projected valid

signatures from each election jurisdiction and project the total number of valid signatures on the petition statewide.

If such statewide projection establishes a total number of valid petition
signatures not greater than 95.0% of the minimum number of signatures required
to qualify the proposed statewide advisory
public question for the ballot, the petition shall be presumed invalid;
provided that, prior to the last day for ballot certification for the general
election, the Board shall conduct a hearing for the purpose of allowing
the proponents to present competent evidence or an additional sample to
rebut the presumption of
invalidity.  At the conclusion of such hearing, and after the resolution of any specific objection filed pursuant to Section 10-8 of this Code, the Board shall issue a
final order declaring the petition to be valid or invalid and shall, in
accordance with its order, certify or not certify the proposition for the ballot.

If such statewide projection establishes a total number of valid petition
signatures greater than 95.0% of the minimum number of signatures required
to qualify the proposed Constitutional amendment or statewide advisory
public question for the ballot, the results of the sample shall be considered
inconclusive and, if no specific objections to the petition are filed pursuant
to Section 10-8 of this Code, the Board shall issue a final order declaring
the petition to be valid and shall certify the proposition for the ballot.

In either event, the Board shall append to its final order the detailed
results of the sample from each election jurisdiction which shall include:
(a) specific page and line numbers of signatures actually verified or determined
to be invalid by the respective election authorities, and (b) the calculations
and projections performed by the Board for each election jurisdiction.

(Source: P.A. 97-81, eff. 7-5-11.)