“Marriage” defined as only between one man and one woman?
In Chicago the controversy over the proposal to define marriage as between one man and one woman takes another twist.
The conservative Illinois Family Institute have formally challenged the initial findings of state officials, that the proposal does not have enough valid signatures to make it onto the November 7th ballot.
The petition has 345,000 signatures. State law requires that more than 95% of a petition’s signatures must be valid in order for it to be processed and eventually end up on the ballot. When officials reviewed a random sample of 64,000 of the signatures, they found that only 91% were valid.
The director of the Illinois Family Institute, Peter LaBarbera admitted, “we’ve found some questions about the process, so we’re moving forward. We’re still very confident voters will see this amendment on Election Day.”
The group needs 283,111 registered voters to sign the petition in order for it to be put on the ballot.
Gay rights activists are determined to challenge the proposal every step of the way.
Rick Garcia, the political director of Equality Illinois said; “we looked at every signature and they don’t have enough registered voters who signed these petitions.”
But with a margin of approximately 6% in it, the Illinois Family Institute are confident that they will manage to find the remaining signatures and get the proposal taken to a general vote.
A hearing was set for Aug. 4.
