Protect Marriage Illinois

Dear PMI Circulators,

First, thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to gather signatures on the petition to preserve marriage in Illinois. Your time and effort is invaluable to this project and please know that we sincerely appreciate your work! We need the signed petitions to be turned in by APRIL 30, 2008 in order to get them processed for filing with the State Board of Elections and each county (or city) jurisdiction.

It will only take about 3 - 4 hours of your time to really impact our future! For instance, you can gather at your church or work in the next few days or stand in front of a busy Post Office.


We want every signature to count, so please read the instructions carefully before starting out.

For example, at an event, it’s very important that you ask a potential signer if they are a REGISTERED VOTER right after asking if they’d “like to sign a petition to protect marriage” and before you start discussing the petition, as that will save a lot of time as far as having an opportunity to explain the referendum question to a sincerely interested signer. From our experience, we recommend that you simply explain the purpose of the petition — to put the question of preserving traditional marriage between one man and one woman before the voters — and not get into a drawn out discussion or argument on the issue. Some people may elicit an argument to divert your attention from the task at hand — gathering as many valid signatures as possible! Of course, encourage each signer to read the ballot question at the top of the petition.

If someone declines to sign your petition we ask that you just say, “Thank You” and move on to the next group of people. Do not take it personally or be discouraged if you don’t get 100% to sign! Also, I believe the best time and place for deep discussions on this issue is usually in private, with love and patience. But, of course, if you have an opportunity to share your motivation for being there, please do — after all, this whole effort is based on our First Amendment right to free speech and freedom of worship.

TIPS ON PREPARING YOUR PETITIONS TO GO OUT AND GATHER SIGNATURES:

If you do not download a petition with the country pre-printed, we suggest you write the County/Election Jurisdiction on each line of the petition before making your copies & starting out for the day to avoid someone from a different county/jurisdiction accidentally signing on the wrong petition sheet. If you have mixed jurisdictions on one petition, the jurisdiction with the fewest signatures get thrown out. For example, if the petition has 4 of one jurisdiction and 3 of another, only the 4 count! This is especially important in the cities that are their own jurisdictions (Aurora, Bloomington, Chicago, Danville, East St. Louis, Galesburg, Peoria, and Rockford) — those residents must sign a sheet just for their city. So you will have some petitions with the City lines already filled in for residents of Peoria and other petitions with the County lines filled in to use for all residents outside the city limits in Peoria County. PLEASE DOWNLOAD PETITIONS WITH THE JURISDICTION PRE-PRINTED (or WRITE IT IN ALL DOWN THE PAGE) TO AVOID THESE MISTAKES — especially for those 8 cities!

When we’re processing the petitions, we will separate the City of Peoria from Peoria County petitions (all 8 city jurisdictions).

If you are going to a multi-county event, you can carry several clipboards or you can carry one with Post It tabs (suggest multi-colored) sticking out the side, indicating which county/ jurisdiction and you can flip back and forth. You can also purchase a clipboard that has an inside storage box to carry extra petitions.

Remember to ask each petitioner to sign it exactly like they sign when they go to vote — it needs to match the signature on their registration on file at their County Clerk’s office. Names were discarded last time due to petitioners signing just their middle name or a nickname. We do NOT want that to happen — it is called thwarting the Will of the People, but the Clerks were given specific instructions and we must follow them, too.

During the last effort, I went to a few counties to watch as the County Clerk verified signatures and addresses and was surprised to learn that some people had been taken off the registration rolls if they hadn’t voted in several elections. I asked if they even knew they were no longer registered and the Clerk assured me that they’d sent out notice(s) before they deleted the voters’ names. So, that is another good reason to specifically ask if the petitioner’s registration is current!

If someone is not sure if they’re registered, do not have them sign the petition. If they’re unsure, ask them if they’ve voted recently. If they do not remember the last time they voted, I suggest you give them a petition to sign after they go register to vote. In the meantime, as an American citizen, they can still ask nine of their friends to sign it, too! (As an American citizen they can collect signatures, but cannot sign it until they are registered). A voter registration form can be downloaded from our site and sent to their Clerk’s office. Once they’ve received notice from their Clerk that they are registered, they can sign the petition. If they’re just not sure if they’re registered, encourage them to check with their County Clerk’s office immediately. {Some people want to sign it but are not allowed to vote i.e. a felon, but as an American citizen, they can still gather signatures.}

If you are circulating petitions, will you please let us know? Either email us at
info@protectmarriageilliois.org or call 217-377-6017. Also, please let us know of events or conferences coming up in your area and if you’ll need extra volunteers.

Please collect signatures of REGISTERED VOTERS at every family, church, school, or leisure activity that you attend. You know many people that agree with you on this very important issue!! Again, we ask that you do not get into disagreements with voters while gathering signatures — if you want to discuss it more in depth, please ask the person to meet you at another time. We do not want you to miss other potential signers that would avoid you if you are in the middle of a disagreement.