Scott Lee Cohen says he will submit 133,000 signatures to the Illinois State Board of Elections on Monday, June 21, the petition deadline. See this story. He is an independent candidate for Governor.
Cohen is already famous in Illinois. He won the Democratic primary in February for Lieutenant Governor. Party leaders didn’t like him, had not expected him to win the primary, and persuaded him to withdraw so that the party could substitute someone else. Then Cohen seemed to regret his decision to withdraw, so he launched an independent bid.
I know his political philosophy and my political philosophy may be poles apart, but I hope enough of his signatures are valid and are sufficient enough to put him on the ballot in November.
Likewise, I know he’ll probably not win in November. But his “independent” candidacy can help to weaken the entrenched so-called two party system in Illinois and in the United States.
That, in itself, is a ‘victory’ and I’m all for it!
Ballot access reform is needed! 133,000 signatures is too much! Have all candidates, major party, third party or independents, pay the same filing fee and gather the same number of signatures. Or have a vote-waiver threshold (i.e., if a third party gets at least 50,000 votes for any of the statewide races, automatic ballot access).
I still think the odds are against him getting on the ballot. Based on news accounts of his petition drive, I suspect there are going to be a high number of invalid signatures.
Free elections in America are a Fairy Tale told to children like the tooth fairy, Santa and Washington chopping down the cherry tree.
The 133,000 signitures needed is but one of the many examples. Government tries to keep as many people off the ballot as possible. Those that are left are bought and paid for by unions and corporations.
In the absence of more information, a lot of your readers will probably assume he was pressured to drop out because of his views of because “the party systems is corrupt in evil.”
Really, he got kicked off the ballot because he’s a wife beater.
If it came down to a Democrat, Republican, or Cohen, anyone who would vote for Cohen is seriously psychotic.