Voters in Cunningham Township in central Illinois, home to the University of Illinois, will face a ballot question asking whether the U.S. should stop giving aid to Israel, which the referendum identifies as an “apartheid regime.”
The question was placed on the ballot owing to an obscure provision that allows such ballot questions. Independent left-wing news website Agitation Rising News reported that two other townships had rejected the ballot question (original emphasis):
Once a year, using an obscure law from the mid-19th century, fifteen township residents can propose an advisory ballot question to be voted on at the annual Township Meeting. Any township resident physically present at the meeting can vote to place an advisory question on public policy on the November ballot. A simple majority is needed to add the question.
The Peoria Township vote was 67-93. The Capital Township vote was 17-56.
Only the Township of Cunningham (City of Urbana Township) voted in favor of placing the question on the November ballot. The question passed 76-40. The City of Urbana passed a Ceasefire Resolution on March 19th, 2024.
The text of the resolution, according to the Champaign County website, is:
Shall the United States federal government and subordinate divisions stop givin military funding to Israel, which currently costs taxpayers 3.8 billiion [sic] dollars a year, given Israel’s global recognition as an apartheid regime [sic] with a track record of human rights violations [sic]?
Voters are then allowed to choose “Yes” or “No.”
The resolution will have no effect, as a local township does not control foreign policy, nor can it control state or federal spending.
The University of Illinois was one of many campuses that had an anti-Israel “encampment” by pro-Palestinian activists who tried to limit access to public spaces.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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