June 21 was the deadline for minor parties and independent candidates to file petitions to be on the Illinois ballot.  Five unqualified parties submitted statewide candidate petitions:  Independent Conservative, Libertarian, Reform, Constitution, and Practical.

All Illinois petitions are deemed valid unless someone challenges them.  This is true even if the petitions carry fewer signatures than the legal requirement.

Not all of the five petitioning groups have a full slate of statewide candidates.  The Practical Party and the Reform Party only filed candidates for U.S. Senate.

The qualified parties in Illinois are the Democratic, Republican and Green Parties.

There are also 3 independent candidates in the Gubernatorial race, and three independent candidates in the U.S. Senate race.  The three gubernatorial independents are Stephen Estill, Scott Lee Cohen, and William Walls.  The three independent U.S. Senate candidates are Willie Boyd, Santiago Horton, and Corey Dabney.