The 7th circuit held oral arguments on September 25 in Stevo v Keith, 08-3218. The issue is the Illinois law which requires independent candidates for the U.S. House to collect over 10,000 signatures in some election years, but exactly 5,000 in other election years. The three judges were Richard Posner and Joel Flaum (Reagan appointees) and Richard Cudahy (a Carter appointee). The plaintiff, Allan Stevo, submitted 7,200 signatures, which would have been enough in 2002 or 2012, but were not enough this year. A decision is expected very soon. Almost 50 supporters of Stevo attended the hearing.
Any updates on the Dan Druck case (LP candidate for Congress in IL-14)? Same basic situation — Druck turned in 7,000+ sigs, a couple thousand short of what he needed.
The briefs are being filed in the Illinois State Court of Appeals in the Dan Druck case. However, the Stevo decision will probably come out before the State Appeals Court even rules on Druck. If Stevo wins, that is very good for Druck.
There doesn’t appear to be much of a relationship between the number of signature required and the number of 3rd party candidates who run, even in the elections following presidential elections (when the number of votes cast in congressional races also increases).
The 5,000 signatures in post-redistricting elections is simply a conservative estimate of the number of votes that might be cast in a district that had not existed before. In a few districts and a few elections, the number of signatures based on votes cast, has actually been less than 5,000.
With the overall increase in congressional district populations, plus increased turnout in the last election or two, the best way to reduce the disparity would be to increase the 5,000 to a larger number – or perhaps the smallest amount for any previously constituted district.
If the court were to overturn the limit, it would mean that a State could not base signature limits on the number of votes cast in an actual election for that office, if the district did not exist on a continuing basis. Instead, they would have to base it on perhaps the vote for governor in the district, or on registration.
You’re right, Jim. The signature requirement should be based on the number of people who are registered to vote, in that district. The court should say that the signature requirement should be the same for all parties. In most of IL, about 400,000 people are registered, in each congressional district. The court should say that the signature requirement would be 1% of the number of registered people, in the district, for all parties, which would usually be about 4,000.