PEORIA - If you've never been involved in the Illinois Republican Party at the state convention level, you have two days to make a move. May 19-21, 2016, party delegates from 102 counties will meet in Peoria to vote on the state platform and at-large national convention delegates, among other agenda items.
There's one thing you need to do by Wednesday this week if you want to be a state convention delegate: contact (via phone or email) your county chairman or if you live in Cook County, your township or ward committeeman. Ask to be included among the state convention delegates for your township or county. The GOP county chairman or township/ward committeeman put their delegate list together.
According to IL GOP rules, county party conventions are to be held by this week.
The number of those allotted for each jurisdiction is based on the number of votes in the most recent GOP primary - one delegate per 500 voters.
In the March 15th 2016 GOP primary, 1,412,368 voted. In 2012, 929,031 Republicans voted, picking Mitt Romney over Rick Santorum. In 2008, 893,422 voted in the presidential primary, tapping Senator John McCain over former Governor Mike Huckabee.
With Illinois' voting numbers 50 percent higher than normal turnout, more GOP delegates will be appointed and involved in the state convention next month than in 2008 or 2012.
Find information about your county chairman or township/ward committeemen at www.weareillinois.org.
