Supporters Hold Out Hope For Term Limits On November Ballot

John Gregory -- Illinois Radio Network

Bruce Rauner is holding out hope that term limits will be on ballot come November.

The Illinois Supreme Court turned down a request for a direct appeal of a circuit court’s decision that the referendum didn’t meet constitutional requirements. The next move is asking for the Illinois Appellate Court to expedite its review of the case.

If those tactics fail and the referendum gets left off the ballot, Rauner is promising to pursue term limits through legislation.

“It would be tragic, but we’ll never give up,” Rauner said. “Then what we’ll do is we will bring it to the voters. We are gonna get a governor and a General Assembly elected who support term limits.”

A court decision would be needed by Aug. 22, which is when the Illinois State Board of Elections is set to certify the ballot for the Nov. 4 election.

The measure would limit state legislators to eight years in office. A Cook County Circuit Court judge ruled it didn’t meet constitutional requirements that such initiatives make procedural and structural changes to the legislature. A 1994 push for term limits, led by Rauner’s opponent, then-state treasurer Pat Quinn, was rejected by the courts for similar reasons.