In addition to voting for opposing candidates Tuesday, Illinois residents had the option to vote for or against holding an Illinois Constitutional Convention.

The constitution referendum failed with 68 percent opposed and 32 percent for the convention after 93 percent of precincts reported, according to the Associated Press.

“Every state has their own constitution,” said Alex Hari, junior political science major. “Voters in this election decided if they wanted changes to be made to the state constitution.”

Despite their disagreements on other issues and candidates, members of both the NIU College Republicans and Democrats said the convention is not necessary. They, however, cited different reasons for being against the convention.

“I think a lot of Republicans are against it,” said Adam Hunt, NIU College Republican member. “It’s not worth spending the money.”

Hunt also said he does not approve of the politicians who would be running the convention.
Fellow NIU College Republican David Allard agreed.

“The current Democratic leadership seems corrupt, so it wouldn’t be effective or ethical,” Allard said.

Tony Wadas, NIU College Democrats president, said he also thought the convention wouldn’t be necessary.

“Most of the College Democrats are against it, and I am too,” Wadas said.

He said the state wasn’t prepared to renovate the constitution while being fair to every county, and that some people were worried if the constitution referendum did pass, changes would be made to the constitution that would affect their pensions.

With 68 percent of voters opposed to the referendum, political science professor Barbara Burrell attributed the negative results for the convention to Illinois politicians.

“I’m not surprised,” Burrell said. “There were very established leaders that were against it.”


Editor’s note: Staff Writer Kim Skibinski contributed to this story.

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