The Illinois House Local Government will hold a hearing on HB 5263 on Tuesday, April 29, at 1 p.m., in room 409 of the Capitol. HB 5263 makes it more difficult for ballot-qualified parties to nominate candidates. Current law says that if a ballot-qualified party doesn’t nominate someone for a particular office at its own primary, party leaders can still choose a nominee afterwards. This bill says that if the post-primary nomination procedure is used, the candidate still can’t be considered nominated unless he or she submits a petition of 5% of the last vote cast.
The Green Party is the only ballot-qualified party statewide in Illinois currently, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties. This year, the Green Party nominated more people by post-primary meeting, than by the primary itself. Ballot access for candidates to get on a primary ballot itself requires a burdensome petition, so losing the ability to make post-primary nominations will be injurious.
One more separate- is- NOT- equal ballot access law.
The hearing is before the [u]Senate[/u] Local Government Committee. HB 5263 has already passed the House.
Circumventing the primaries is an abuse of the voters and is contrary to republican principles.
If there is a burden in gaining access to the primary ballot, that should be addressed, rather than bypassing the electoral process entirely.