Constitution Party and Socialist Party Also File Illinois Petitions for President

June 27 is the deadline for Illinois petitions. Besides the Libertarian and Green statewide petitions, the Constitution Party and the Socialist Party also submitted presidential petitions. The latter two did not have as many as 25,000 signatures. However, if no one challenges them, they will be considered valid. A fifth petition was filed by a presidential candidate named Mary Vann, using the label “Human Rights Party.”


Comments

Constitution Party and Socialist Party Also File Illinois Petitions for President — 15 Comments

  1. Jeremy Siple, if one if planning a challenge, the deadline isn’t the only important thing to know. Another important question is who has standing to challenge. For example, it might be the case that any Illinois registered voter can challenge. Also, how and where to file the challenge. It’s probably not difficult, but it has to be done correctly.

  2. I notice that Better for America is not on this list. I think that organization is just trying to trick people into giving to an insincere effort, and stop people from becoming involved with an existing party that wants to maintain itself.

  3. I read somewhere that the challenge period runs from June 28 to July 5th (but skipping July 4th.)

  4. One objection kept the Constitution Party off the ballot in 1992. Who does the objecting anyway?

  5. Probably opponents who think that they will suck votes away from their preferred or paid campaigns.

  6. I think simply challenging them for not having enough signatures might be a valid reason, hypothetically speaking.

  7. When someone challenges an Illinois candidate petition, his or her name and residence address is posted on the Illinois State Elections Board’s web page.

    No one challenged the Constitution Party in 2008 in Illinois, but Rob Sherman challenged them in 2012. Later he said he regretted that and tried to retract his challenge, but was unable to do so.

  8. Election authorities in Illinois aren’t required to accept the filing of petitions that are defective “on their face.” This means that if it’s immediately obvious that the document is deficient without doing any further research, the election authority can refuse the filing. So, while they could not, for example, look in a database to determine if the signers are registered voters or listed the correct address in order to reject the initial filing, they can immediately reject the filing if 25,000 signatures are required and only 1 is provided, as this is readily apparent “on the face” of the document. That having been said, the Illinois State Board of Elections does not appear to reject any such filings, preferring to consider all valid unless and until they are challenged. The same is not true for all other local election authorities throughout the state.

  9. In 2008 they accepted the filing of John Joseph Polachek, presidential candidate of the New Party, despite the fact that the petition was completely deficient on its face. He didn’t list a running mate or any other candidates, violating the full slate law, his address was incorrect, the New Party wasn’t even in existence anymore, and there was not one single signature on his petition, including his own. Nonetheless nobody challenged it, and he was on the ballot in Illinois.

  10. I believe Rob Sherman from the IL Green Party has again requested the SPUSA, Constitution, and Libertarian petitions. Hopefully he does not file a challenge.

  11. Is it the rule in Illinois that you can’t sign more than one party petition in a year (or election cycle)? That might be a reason why one party would want to look at another party’s petitions, to know who’d signed for the other party (and when, in case it was first-signed-first-served).

  12. Correct, it is the rule in Illinois that one can not sign the nominating petitions of candidates of more than one party in the same election cycle. (There is a widely unknown exception that allows one to simultaneously do so for one statewide and a different local political party.) There is no registration by party in the state, but one becomes legally “affiliated” with a party by signing a nominating petition of one of that party’s candidates. If one does sign petitions for candidates of different parties, those signatures are vulnerable and may be successfully stricken upon challenge to the petition. It is true that the Illinois Green Party has been known to do extensive preparation for a challenge to it’s own petitions, including preparing proof that each signature on their petitions are valid in advance; however, this involves doing things such as checking voter registration, address, and signature–I don’t know if it includes checking other petitions for duplicate signatures. In addition, I don’t know if Rob Sherman is acting of his own accord or officially on behalf of the Illinois Green Party. Keep in mind that the filing deadline has passed; so even if the party was able to determine that they did not have enough valid signatures, there is nothing they could do other than hope that a challenger isn’t able to prove that.

  13. I wonder if Sherman will again use this phony excuse “Later he said he regretted that and tried to retract his challenge, but was unable to do so.”. Suddenly he and his lawyer didn’t know the deadline dates?

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