On March 29, the Illinois House passed HB 2009, which restricts who can be an independent candidate. The vote was 75-38. The bill says if anyone ran for any partisan office in the primary and lost, he or she cannot run for any partisan office in the general election under a different designation. Also, anyone who won a partisan primary but withdrew cannot then run under a different designation for any partisan office in November.

The vote does not seem to have been based on partisanship. The 38 “No” votes included 24 Democrats and 14 Republicans. The Democrats who voted “No” are: Acevedo, Arroyo, Berrios, Daniel Burke, Burns, Chapa LaVia, Crespo, Currie, Farnham, Ford, Franks, Gabel, Greg Harris, Jefferson, Lang, Mayfield, McCarthy, Mendoza, Mussman, Osterman, Soto, Turner, Williams, and Yarbrough.

The Republicans who voted “no” are: Barickman, Brown, Coladipietro, Eddy, Hammond, David Harris, Kay, Bill Mitchell, Reboletti, Reis, Rose, Rosenthal, Roth, Sacia.