An outgoing Sangamon County Board member wants a binding referendum on recalling county officials on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Democrat Sam Cahnman is collecting signatures for a petition that would allow county residents to vote on the power to remove sheriffs and other county officers.
Illinois allows governors to be recalled, but local recalls are handled on a per-municipality basis. The Chicago suburbs of Buffalo Grove, Wheeling and Arlington Heights all have established recall for their officials; Cahnman said that several other states also have set up this process.
“This is something that our neighboring states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Missouri and about 20 other states already have,” he said. “In fact, when I talk with a lot of people about this, they’re surprised we don’t have recall in Illinois.”
Cahnman tried to get similar petitions through county government after the shooting of Sonya Massey in 2024 by Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson. After the shooting, then-Sheriff Jack Campbell was discovered to have “ignored a million red flags” about hiring Grayson, Cahnman said.
Campbell refused to leave his position despite calls from Sangamon County citizens and state officials. He would later resign as sheriff on Aug. 31, 2024.
“There was overwhelming support for him to resign and get out of office, but we realized if he did not resign voluntarily, we had no way to get him out of office and no ability to recall an elected official,” Cahnman said.
Cahnman’s previous efforts were voted down by the Republican-controlled county board along party lines.Opponents said a referendum or attempt to recall an elected official likely would be met with litigation, which could prove costly for the county.
Cahnman has until Aug. 3 to collect 6,359 signatures needed for the petition. If the referendum does end up on the November ballot, he is confident that voters would move in favor of recall, he said.
Even if it doesn’t receive enough signatures before the deadline, Cahnman said, he could keep collecting signatures until it could be put before voters in the April 6 consolidated election.
“One way or another, this is going to get on the ballot,” he said.
