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Email: "No Marriage Referendum for Illinois - Marriage Advocates Appeal"

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BY LifeSiteNews.com By Peter J. Smith   SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, August 14, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Illinois Board of Elections decided last Friday that Illinoisans will not vote on a non-binding referendum on traditional marriage, since a random sampling of the referendum’s signatures lacked a sufficient percentage of valid signatures. However, supporters of the referendum remain undaunted and are confident that a legal challenge to the state board of elections’ ruling will place the non-binding referendum before voters in November’s general election.   The state board of elections justified its decision to forbid the non-binding referendum “Protect Marriage Illinois” (PMI) from the November ballot, since the board’s random sampling of the referendum’s 347,000 collected signatures estimated 91% of the signatures were valid. Under the state’s rules, 95% of sampled signatures must be validated to place the referendum on the ballot.  The PMI referendum asks whether Illinoisans would favor an amendment to the state constitution that would reaffirm traditional marriage and declare: “a marriage between a man and a woman is the only legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.”  PMI and its allies, the Illinois Family Institute with the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal group, filed a brief in the 7th US Court of Appeals appealing the board’s decision. PMI claims that the state’s process for placing a non-binding referendum on the ballot constitutes an unconstitutional hardship on the people’s right to petition their government. Previously, PMI experienced a legal defeat after US District court Judge Elaine Bucklo, a Clinton era appointee, ruled against them, although this time they remain confident that the Appeals Court will give them a fair hearing.   According to PMI, the state election board meticulously tossed away thousands of petitions in a process they describe as both “arcane” and “draconian”. The board invalidated over 10,000 petitions on account of the signatures having been misfiled in the wrong jurisdiction; the petitions were mistakenly filed in counties, rather than in the eight cities possessing their own electoral jurisdiction. Many others were thrown out for clerical errors including petitions boasting familiar names that deviated from voting registration signatures (e.g. “Sue” as opposed to “Susan”), or petitions having printed names instead of signed ones, a practice which PMI lawyers say is legally acceptable.  Nevertheless, the AP reports Illinois’ two leading gubernatorial election candidates celebrated the election board’s decision at the State Fair in Springfield, elated to have dodged thus far any real discussion over same-sex marriage. “I don’t support gay marriage, but I also don’t support efforts to further divide our community by trying to pass laws or change constitutions when the law is already sufficient as it is,’’ spoke Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who while personally opposed to same-sex “marriage,” supports homosexual civil unions.  Blagojevich’s challenger, state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, chimed in agreement, “Don’t tinker with the Constitution if you don’t have to.’’   Blagojevich and Topinka, who both commonly display this bipartisan spirit over homosexual issues, maintain that the 1996 Illinois law prohibiting same-sex marriage is quite sufficient and renders needless any discussion over a constitutional amendment.   Pro-family advocates point out that such laws don’t seem to discourage homosexual activists, who try to subvert the democratic process by appealing to courts to impose same-sex marriage on unwilling legislatures, as occurred in Massachusetts.   While supporters of PMI remain hopeful for a favorable outcome in their appeal, they still will face legal challenges to 100,000 signatures from Fair Illinois, a coalition of anti-family and pro-homosexual activists including NOW, ACLU, People for the American Way, and Equality Illinois, Illinois’ leading homosexual lobby, and others.  See Protect Marriage Illinois’s website:   http://www.protectmarriageillinois.org/ http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/no-marriage-referendum-for-illinois-marriage-advocates-appeal/

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