(a)The General Assembly in submitting an amendment to the Constitution to the electors, or the proponents of an amendment to Article IV of the Constitution submitted by petition, shall prepare a brief explanation of such amendment, a brief argument in favor of the same, and the form in which such amendment will appear on the separate ballot as provided by Section 16-6 of the Election Code, as amended. The minority of the General Assembly, or if there is no minority, anyone designated by the General Assembly shall prepare a brief argument against such amendment. The explanation, the arguments for and against each constitutional amendment, and the form in which the amendment will appear on the separate ballot shall be approved by a joint resolution of the General Assembly and filed in the o
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(a) The General Assembly in submitting an amendment to the Constitution to the electors, or the proponents of an amendment to Article IV of the Constitution submitted by petition, shall prepare a brief explanation of such amendment, a brief argument in favor of the same, and the form in which such amendment will appear on the separate ballot as provided by Section 16-6 of the Election Code, as amended. The minority of the General Assembly, or if there is no minority, anyone designated by the General Assembly shall prepare a brief argument against such amendment. The explanation, the arguments for and against each constitutional amendment, and the form in which the amendment will appear on the separate ballot shall be approved by a joint resolution of the General Assembly and filed in the office of the Secretary of State with the proposed amendment. (b) In the case of an amendment to Article IV of the Constitution initiated pursuant to Section 3 of Article XIV of the Constitution, the proponents shall be those persons so designated at the time of the filing of the petition as provided in Section 10-8 of the Election Code, and the opponents shall be those members of the General Assembly opposing such amendment, or if there are none, anyone designated by the General Assembly and such opponents shall prepare a brief argument against such amendment. The proponent's explanation and argument in favor of and the opponent's argument against an amendment to Article IV initiated by petition must be submitted to the Attorney General, who may rewrite them for accuracy and fairness. The explanation, the arguments for and against each constitutional amendment, and the form in which the amendment will appear on the separate ballot shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State with the proposed amendment. (c) At least 2 months before the next election of members of the General Assembly, following the passage of the proposed amendment, the Secretary of State shall publish the amendment, in full in 8 point type, or the equivalent thereto, in at least one secular newspaper of general circulation in every county in this State in which a newspaper is published and its digital equivalent. In counties in which 2 or more newspapers are published, the Secretary of State shall cause such amendment to be published in 2 newspapers and their digital equivalent. In counties having a population of 500,000 or more, such amendment shall be published in not less than 6 newspapers of general circulation and their digital equivalent. After the first publication, the publication of such amendment shall be repeated once each week for 2 consecutive weeks. In selecting newspapers in which to publish such amendment the Secretary of State shall have regard solely to the circulation of such newspapers, selecting secular newspapers in every case having the largest circulation. The proposed amendment shall have a notice prefixed thereto in said publications, that at such election the proposed amendment will be submitted to the electors for adoption or rejection, and at the end of the official publication, he shall also publish the form in which the proposed amendment will appear on the separate ballot. The Secretary of State shall fix the publication fees to be paid to newspapers for making such publication, but in no case shall such publication fee exceed the amount charged by such newspapers to private individuals for a like publication. (d) In addition to the notice hereby required to be published, the Secretary of State shall also cause the existing form of the constitutional provision proposed to be amended, the proposed amendment, the explanation of the same, the arguments for and against the same, and the form in which such amendment will appear on the separate ballot, to be published in pamphlet form in 8 point type or the equivalent thereto in English, in additional languages as required by Section 203 of Title III of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, and in braille. The Secretary of State shall publish the pamphlet on the Secretary's website in a downloadable, printable format and maintain a reasonable supply of printed pamphlets to be available upon request. The Secretary of State shall publish an audio version of the pamphlet, which shall be available for playback on the Secretary's website and made available to any individual or entity upon request. (e) Except as provided in subsection (f), the Secretary of State shall mail such pamphlet to every mailing address in the State, addressed to the attention of the Postal Patron. He shall also maintain a reasonable supply of such pamphlets so as to make them available to any person requesting one. (f) For any proposed constitutional amendment appearing on the ballot for the general election on November 8, 2022, the Secretary of State, in lieu of the requirement in subsection (e) of this Act, shall mail a postcard to every mailing address in the State advising that a proposed constitutional amendment will be considered at the general election. The postcard shall include a URL to the Secretary of State's website that contains the information required in subsection (d).