(10 ILCS 5/12-5) (from Ch. 46, par. 12-5)

Sec. 12-5. Notice for public questions.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b), for all elections held after July 1, 1999, notice of public questions shall be required only as set forth in this Section or as set forth in Section 17-3 or 19-3 of the School Code. Not more than 60 days nor less than 10 days before the date of a regular election at which a public question is to be submitted to the voters of a political or governmental subdivision, and at least 20 days before an emergency referendum, the election authority shall publish notice of the referendum. The notice shall be published once in a local, community newspaper having general circulation in the political or governmental subdivision. The notice shall also be given at least 10 days before the date of the election by posting a copy of the notice at the principal office of the election authority. The local election official shall also post a copy of the notice at the principal office of the political or governmental subdivision, or if there is no principal office at the building in which the governing body of the political or governmental subdivision held its first meeting of the calendar year in which the referendum is being held. The election authority and the political or governmental subdivision may, but are not required to, post the notice electronically on their World Wide Web pages. The notice, which shall appear over the name or title of the election authority, shall be substantially in the following form:

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that at the election to be held on (insert day of the week), (insert date of election), the following proposition will be submitted to the voters of (name of political or governmental subdivision):

(insert the public question as it will appear on the ballot)

The polls at the election will be open at 6:00 o'clock A.M. and will continue to be open until 7:00 o'clock P.M. of that day.

Dated (date of notice)

(Name or title of the election authority)

The notice shall also include any additional information required by the statute authorizing the public question. The notice may include an explanation, in neutral and plain language, of the question and its purposes supplied by the governing body of the political or governmental subdivision to whose voters the question is to be submitted. The notice shall set forth the precincts and polling places at which the referendum will be conducted only in the case of emergency referenda.

(b) Notice of any public question published in a local, community newspaper having general circulation in the political or governmental subdivision to which such public question relates more than 30 days but not more than 35 days prior to the general election held on November 8, 2016 that otherwise complies with the requirements of this Section is sufficient notice to satisfy the newspaper publication requirement of this Section, such notice shall for all purposes be deemed to have been given in accordance with this Section, any bonds approved by the voters at such election are hereby authorized to be issued in accordance with applicable law without further referendum approval and taxes to be levied pursuant to any limiting rate increases approved by the voters at such election are hereby authorized to be levied and extended without further referendum approval.

(Source: P.A. 99-935, eff. 2-17-17; 100-298, eff. 1-1-18; 100-863, eff. 8-14-18.)