By Lauraann Wood

Law360 (April 8, 2020, 9:39 PM EDT) -- An Illinois voting rights group said in a federal lawsuit Tuesday that it wants state and local officials to accept electronic signatures on ballot referenda petitions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

To accommodate voters' constitutional rights, the Committee for the Illinois Democracy Amendment, chairman William Morgan and several others are asking a judge to allow and require Secretary of State Jesse White and local officials to accept electronic petition signatures and lessen the number of signatures needed from voters looking to place a referendum on the November election ballot.

Illinois typically requires that ballot petitions be signed in person and meet a certain signature threshold, but the current public health emergency and a stay-at-home order imposed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker are "keeping the petition passers from going out with their clip boards," the group's attorney, John Mauck of Mauck & Baker LLC, told Law360 on Wednesday.

"We're reaching out to the secretary of state's office and others, hoping this can be a cooperative effort and a win-win for the officials and the people involved," he said.

The suit argues that modifying state petition collection requirements for this year's election is necessary to accommodate the voting and general publics' constitutional speech and petitioning rights. "Under current circumstances, the plaintiffs and Illinois voters are forced to choose between their health and their rights to petition and vote," the suit said.

A spokesman for White's office told Law360 on Wednesday that the group's suit seems to be "misdirected" because state elections are controlled by the Illinois State Board of Elections, not the secretary of state. The spokesman said that the office had not yet seen the lawsuit but that he anticipated it would ask for a dismissal for that reason.

But Evanston City Clerk Devon Reid, who is also named in the suit, told Law360 Thursday that he supports the voters' legal push for online petitioning.

"I'm happy to be sued in this context," he said. "Petitioners in my city should have the right to continue petitioning for democracy and reform."

Online petitioning is a "great idea" as an interim accommodation given the state's current coronavirus restrictions, Reid told Law360. But "as a matter going forward, that should be legislated by the state," he said.

"What I'm interested in is having courts say that yes, this is something that you not only can do but you have to do it," he said. "That, in my head, is the preferred outcome."

The committee aims to ask voters in November whether Illinois' constitution should be amended to allow them to petition for a mandatory roll call vote on legislative bills proposing stronger ethical standards for Illinois public officials. Under current Illinois petitioning requirements, it will need to submit 363,813 signatures by May 3 to place the initiative on the November ballot, according to the suit.

Locally, plaintiff Jackson Paller wants a ballot referendum asking whether Evanston, Illinois, residents should be given petition power to propose ordinances that would require a City Council vote within 70 days. He'll need to submit 2,800 signatures by Aug. 3 to get that question on the ballot, the suit says.

The novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, has now "spread to the majority of the world, with the United States reporting the most cases," according to the suit. That has caused public officials including Pritzker to order small group gatherings and recommend that individuals socially distance themselves from one another, the suit said.

Pritzker's stay-at-home order requires Illinois residents to stay at home unless they are performing "essential" activities and services, and it does not list petition circulation as an essential activity, the suit said. The order is effective until at least April 30, but given "the uncertainty of this health crisis, it is unknown when the order will be lifted or when petition passing may resume," the suit said.

Illinois' ballot petition collection requirements "unduly burden and violate plaintiffs' rights to petition and speech" in light of these orders and recommendations, the group claims.

Other states have already begun accommodating their residents' petitioning rights in the midst of the pandemic, according to the suit. New Jersey's Gov, Phil Murphy, for example, issued an order in Mid-March to implement online petitioning and signature collection. Florida's secretary of state signed a similar order on April 2, according to the suit.

Allowing online petition signatures and submissions would not only save the state money, but would also limit fraud and invite easy verification, Mauck told Law360.

"There won't be problems of illegible signatures and illegible addresses and things like that," he said. "If the secretary of state set up a program like what we're requesting, it will save everybody time, money and effort."

Representatives for other officials named in the suit, including Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough, did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

The plaintiffs are represented by John Mauck and Sorin Leahu of Mauck & Baker LLC; and Pat Quinn.

Counsel information for the defendants could not immediately be determined Wednesday.

The case is William Morgan et al. v. Jesse White et al., case number 1:20-cv-02189, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

--Editing by Peter Rozovsky.

Update: This story has been updated to include additional comments.

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