On May 28, the Illinois legislature passed HB 723, which makes it more difficult for qualified parties to nominate candidates after the primary is over. The old law let qualified parties nominate by committee meeting after the primary, if no one had run for that party in the primary. The bill says that candidates nominated after the primary must submit a petition with the same number of signatures that would have been needed if that candidate had sought a place on the primary ballot. The logic for such a petition is missing. The purpose of the petition to obtain a place on a primary ballot is to keep the primary ballot from being too crowded, but there is no rational reason for a petition for a candidate nominated at a party meeting. The party itself has already shown a modicum of support by having polled at least 5% of the vote in the preceding election.
This bill has no effect for political parties that are not ballot-qualified. The only parties that are currently qualified statewide in Illinois are the Democratic, Republican and Green Parties.
Irony Alert: This is the same state that will not do any thing to modify the Lincoln Penny.
Lincoln Alert: Not only did Ole Abraham win in 1860 as a GOP candidate in a four ticket race; but his 1864 win was with Democrat Party candidate Andrew Johnson in the alternative ‘Union Party’!
More Parties, more Democracy!
—– Donald Raymond Lake
In Illinois, parties are literally primary-qualified. If you read the actual law, it says that if a party gets X% of the vote in the general election they get to have a primary before the following election.
The intent is to let the voters who affiliate with the party to choose their nominees, rather than have the choice dictated top down by the party elite or insiders.
Even in the case of a committee choosing a nominee, the makeup of that committee is spelled out in law, with each committeemen having a voting strength equal to the turnout in the primary in his precinct, ward, etc. from which the committeeman is elected. Committeemen may not be replaced between the primary and the general elections, so even here the effect is of an indirect primary where the rank and file voting members of the party have some control over the outcome.
The purpose of the primary petition is to ensure that the candidates on the primary have the support of at least some party voters (in the case of Congress, 1/2 of 1% of the number of voters for the party in the previous general election).
And Illinois permits write-in candidates in primaries. So in the typical congressional district, a would be Green Party candidate would need around 30 signatures before the primary, or run as write-in candidate and get 30 votes in the primary, or if nominated after the primary get 30 signatures. If the vacancy committee is properly constituted the nominee designate could probably get the 30 signatures from committee members. And no doubt many nominating committees will have open meetings where would-be candidates and supporters could have their say.
The signature requirements are only a modicum of a modicum.
Sigh, Illinois ballot access laws seem incredibly screwy and unfair to me. In some cases the signature requirements between an established party and a new party is 50x! Then there is the whole “full slate” clause, becoming established in some localities but not others…makes my head hurt. :-/
Jim, I’m amazed you keep ignoring the basic facts about this situation. Yeah, 30 signatures for Congress, but 500 for state rep and 1000 for state senate. In what sense is that a “modicum” of support.Pre-primary candidates get 90 days to collect the signatures, but slated candidates get no more than 45 days. This bill makes it virtually impossible to slate candidates for state offices.
The essential fact is that the current scheme denies the right of Green Party voters to choose the party’s nominees. Rather than be upset by this, the party bosses and insiders appear to be actively pleased by the current system of appointment.