As reported earlier, the Illinois Senate has unanimously passed SB 733, which sets the minor party and independent petition requirements at approximately one-fourth of 1% of the last vote cast. But the Illinois House has unanimously passed HB 632, which sets them at 5% of the last vote cast.
Anyone who lives in Illinois should contact state legislators and point out that 5% would give Illinois the 2nd most stringent requirement in the country, for district and county office petitions. Every other state except Georgia and Alabama has some procedure onto the general election ballot, for US House and state legislature, that is at or below 2% of the last vote cast. Sometimes that procedure is for minor or new parties; sometimes it is for independent candidates. Only Georgia, Alabama and Illinois set all routes onto the November ballot (for district and county office) at a level above 2% of the last vote cast. Alabama is at 3% of the last gubernatorial vote; Georgia is 5% of the number of registered voters.
For coordination with other Illinois activists, contact Jeff Trigg at 309-282-6139.
Some of us are not surprised to see this. The Senate bill being shucked to the House Rules Committee is a clear sign that the better bill is being scuttled by Mike Madigan.
This is not the only situation where the Illinois legislature is using parallel bills in both chambers to create a smoke and mirrors situation. The result of this will be that the Illinois Senate will claim that they all supported lower signature requirements, when in reality they knew full well that their bill was never going to make it to the floor in the House. That’s how I see this shaping up. These people are diabolical.