On May 2, the Illinois House unanimously passed HB 632. Although it does improve ballot access, it is far less favorable than the ballot access bill that had passed the Senate on March 30. HB 632 lowers the number of signatures for an independent candidate for the legislature from 10% of the last vote cast, to 5%. It also moves the petition deadline for all independent candidates from December of the year before the election, to June of the election year. Finally, it removes the primary screen-out (which was never enforceable anyway).

While these are significant improvements, the Senate Bill, SB 733, lowered all district and county office petitions from 5% to approximately one-fourth of 1% of the last vote cast. Since two different bills have passed in each house, no one can be certain which bill will pass, but odds are that the weaker House version will be the new law.