Illinois Statutes Chapter 55. Counties § 5/2-4006.5. Commissioners in certain counties

(a) If a county elects 3 commissioners at large under Section 2-4006, registered voters of such county may, by a vote of a majority of those voting on such proposition, determine to change the method of electing the board of county commissioners by electing either 3 or 5 members from single-member districts. In order for such question to be placed upon the ballot, such petition must contain the signatures of not fewer than 10% of the registered voters of such county.

Commissioners may not be elected from single-member districts until the question of electing either 3 or 5 commissioners from single-member districts has been submitted to the electors of the county at a regular election and approved by a majority of the electors voting on the question. The commissioners must certify the question to the proper election authority, which must submit the question at an election in accordance with the Election Code. 1

The question must be in substantially the following form:

Shall the board of county commissioners of (name of county) consist of (insert either 3 or 5) commissioners elected from single-member districts?

(b) If the voters of the county decide to elect either 3 or 5 commissioners from single-member districts, the board of county commissioners shall on or before August 31 of the year following the 2000 federal decennial census divide the county into either 3 or 5 compact and contiguous county commission districts that are substantially equal in population. On or before May 31 of the year following each federal decennial census thereafter, the board of county commissioners shall reapportion the county commission districts to be compact, contiguous, and substantially equal in population.

(c) The commissioners elected at large at or before the general election in 2000 shall continue to serve until the expiration of their terms. Of those commissioners, the commissioner whose term expires in 2002 shall be assigned to district 1; the commissioner whose term expires in 2004 shall be assigned to district 2; and the commissioner whose term expires in 2006 shall be assigned to district 3.

(d) If the voters of the county decide to elect 5 commissioners from single-member districts, at the general election in 2002, one commissioner from and residing in each of districts 1, 4, and 5 shall be elected. At the general election in 2004, one commissioner from and residing in each of districts 1, 2, and 5 shall be elected. At the general election in 2006, one commissioner from and residing in each of districts 2, 3, and 4 shall be elected. At the general election in 2008, one commissioner from and residing in each of districts 1, 3, and 5 shall be elected. At the general election in 2010, one commissioner from each of districts 2 and 4 shall be elected. At the general election in 2012, commissioners from and residing in each district shall be elected. Thereafter, commissioners shall be elected at each general election to fill expired terms. Each commissioner must reside in the district that he or she represents from the time that he or she files his or her nomination papers until his or her term expires.

In the year following the decennial census of 2010 and every 10 years thereafter, the commissioners, publicly by lot, shall divide the districts into 2 groups. One group shall serve terms of 4 years, 4 years, and 2 years and one group shall serve terms of 2 years, 4 years, and 4 years.