Illinois holds a special election to fill the vacant 5th U.S. House seat on April 7. The Board says any independent candidate, or any nominee of an unqualified party, must submit 12,586 valid signatures no later than January 27.
The seat is empty because the person elected in November 2008, Rahm Emanuel, has resigned his seat to become Chief of Staff to President-Elect Barack Obama.
The state is requiring these signatures to be collected in just 21 days. Federal courts in Florida, Georgia, Maryland and Wyoming have ruled that when the normal petitioning period is sharply curtailed, states must reduce the required number of signatures. As far as is known, no one has ever sued over this point in Illinois.
Separate continues NOT to be equal.
Brown v. Bd of Ed 1954
What New Age ballot access lawyer has A-N-Y brain cells ???
Dude, Brown v. the Board has nothing to do with election laws, only with the segregation of public facilities. You cannot cite the Brown case in regards to ANY ELECTION laws…unless there is a law somewhere that forces whites to vote in the city hall and blacks to vote in a port-a-potty behind the building.
LMAO
like usual illinois has one of the toughest ballot access laws in the country for minor,independent or unqualified party,we do need a good constitutional lawyer and some money to fight it.
Does the Green Party still have Ballot Status in IL?
Found My Answer:
SIGNATURE ESTABLISHED PARTY CANDIDATES
REQUIREMENTS: Democratic – 927 signatures
Republican – 319 signatures
Green – 30 signatures
We have started the mechanism for introduction of a Conservative Party in Illinois. Anyone want to take the ball and run with it? See: http://www.conservativepartyil.org
“Dominik Says:
January 6th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Does the Green Party still have Ballot Status in IL?”
Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that the Illinois Green Party lost ballot status as of the results of this past election.
No, the Green Party still has ballot status until 2010.
The Green Party got over 5% for Governor in 2006, which means they got 4 years of full ballot status.
When a party gets over 5% for a lesser statewide office in Illinois, it only gets 2 years, and it only gets it for statewide offices (as opposed to district and county office).
I’m hoping the Constitution Party, or the Libertarian Party, or one of the socialist parties, or some independent candidate, will sue. But obviously the Green Party has no legal complaint, so the Green Party is the one minor party that can’t sue.
#2 # 3
Was the Equal Protection Clause added to protect black and white REPUBLICANS in the ex-slave States — i.e. to get political equality — in voting, in ballot access, in ALL election stuff ???
Too much to understand for the brain dead Supremes and the armies of brain dead so-called lawyers doing their junk LOSING cases for third parties and independents.
Obama should have made Ron Paul his chief of staff.
(1) He was a candidate for President in 2008; and
(2) A special election in Texas would have been held sooner, and not had such onerous qualifications (500 signatures or $3125 filing fee).
Congress has time and manner authority over congressional and senatorial elections, including special elections to fill vacancies.
Congress should require special elections to be held within 30 days of a vacancy if Congress will be in session; 90 days otherwise; preclude partisan nominations; and set a maximum signature count of 100 (number of representatives x 100 for senator).