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Posted July 17
For the last four days, the Illinois State Board of Elections has been adjudicating the challenge for the statewide Libertarian Party petition, and also the statewide Constitution Party petition. The state requires 25,000 signatures. Libertarians turned in more than 43,000, and with the process two-thirds done, 44% of the challenged 23,000 signatures have been ruled valid. At that rate, the outcome will provide a comfortable margin.
The Constitution Party slate, which turned in approximately 30,600, is less likely to qualify. So far, approximately 50% of its challenged signatures are being upheld, but the number of signatures that were challenged is so large that it will probably be below the requirement.
The challenge process hasn’t started yet for the Green Party statewide slate.
The Greens also had around 30,000 raw signatures, which like the Constitution Party petition would require an extraordinarily high validity rate to survive the petition challenge. Ironically, in 2012 Cook County Green Party chairman Rob Sherman initiated the successful challenge against the Illinois presidential ballot petitions of the Constitution, Justice, Socialist, and Together Enhancing America parties (in Illinois, petitions are automatically valid, even with one signature, if they are not challenged). Sherman defended his chalenge in the face of criticism, but then bowed to pressure from other Green Party leaders and attempted to withdraw his challenge. However, the court did not allow the challenge to be withdrawn and the candidates were removed. For the Constitution Party’s Virgil Goode this meant falling below the benchmark of being on enough state ballots to have a mathematical chance of winning.
To my knowledge the number of signatures collected on this petition drive in Illinois is the highest number of signatures collected by each of the three largest alternative parties since the 2012 general election. The signatures had to be collected in a 90 day period, and circulators were not allowed to petition for more than one party, nor voters to sign for more than one party, unlike in many states.
And dropping the challenge is insufficient. There’s a rich tradition in Illinois of politicians being indicted and going to prison.
I’m all for respecting tradition.
If someone gets documentation of violation of state campaign finance law (state version of Hatch Act), I’ll do what I can to make it as public and embarrassing as possible.
Other fun rules: a candidate can’t be a notary, petitioner or signer on a petition with their name on it as a candidate; a petitioner can’t sign their own petition sheet that they circulated as a voter, and can’t notarize it if they are a notary; a notary also can’t sign a petition they notarized as a voter.
BTW. Jeff Trigg (former LP IL executive director in 2004) suggested videotaping the Republicans who are doing NSGOP work in defending their challenge in Chicago. Apparently, they are actually government employees who work in an adjacent building and are illegally doing Republiklan campaign work while on the clock as state employees. Allegedly, they can be seen walking back and forth from their government jobs to the board of elections in downtown Chicago via an underground tunnel. Catch them in the act on video and maybe they will decide to drop the challenge.
I’ve been told that even primary signers could technically be struck, but I was only thinking of parties which are trying to qualify when I wrote that. In a primary voters are signing for a candidate, not for a party to get on the ballot, so my statement was correct even if you are right on your point. I do know for a fact that the SOS told us that petition circulators who worked on a primary petition are not eligible to then work on new party qualification petitions.
“nor voters to sign for more than one party, unlike in many states.”
Actually, this is only partially true. If voters signed a petition during the primaries, they are permitted to sign a petition for a “New” party, who were collecting signatures during the 90 period following the primary election.
HOWEVER, a vote may NOT sign a petition for more than one party during that same 90 day period.
I’m pretty surprised and impressed that the CP somehow managed to get ~30k sigs. It will suck for them to get knocked off two times in a row, assuming that happens.
I guess it is sort of ironic if the Greens get knocked off with 30k, given what Rob Sherman and Andy Finko did last time (hoisted by their own petard?)…but nevertheless sad.
LP validity may be significantly worse in Chicago than in Springfield, so we should probably not celebrate quite yet.