Illinois Representative Mike Fortner (R-West Chicago) has introduced HB 6214. It significantly cuts the number of signatures needed by independent candidates, but it makes their petition deadlines worse.
Existing law requires independent candidate petitions to be submitted by late June of an election year. Statewide independents need 25,000 signatures. District and county independents need signatures of 5% of the last vote cast. The bill lowers the number of signatures to the same number of signatures needed by candidates seeking a place on a primary ballot, so that would be 5,000 signatures for statewide office, and approximately 600 signatures for U.S. House.
Unfortunately, the bill changes the deadline to 75 days after the primary, which would be mid-April. That deadline would be unconstitutional for presidential independents.
My reading is that the number for independent candidates for congressional districts would be the minimum for any party, so it would put the number much lower when a smaller party such as the Green Party is qualified.
Nomination of candidates for the General Assembly is covered in a different section entirely, so “district” independents is referring to districts other than those for the legislature.