Lawsuit Filed in 2010, Challenging Ballot Access Requirements for Chicago Citywide Candidates, is Still Pending

The lawsuit filed in 2010 to challenge the ballot access requirements for candidates for citywide office in Chicago is still pending in U.S. District Court. The case is Stone v Board of Election Commissioners, northern district, 10-cv-7727. It challenges the requirement that candidates for citywide office in Chicago need 12,500 valid signatures, to be gathered in 90 days. A further restriction says voters who sign a petition for one candidate for a particular office are not then able to sign a petition for another candidate for the same office.

Chicago has non-partisan city elections, and elects three citywide officers: Mayor, City Clerk, and Treasurer. One of the arguments made by the plaintiffs is that because Illinois only requires 5,000 signatures for a candidate to get on a statewide Illinois partisan primary, there is no state interest in requiring 12,500 signatures to run in the non-partisan citywide offices.

Attorneys for the Board of Elections filed a response brief on November 20, 2012, in support of their motion for summary judgment. The candidate-plaintiffs are hoping the court will permit evidence to be gathered, showing that there is no governmental interest in such a high petition requirement. A ruling could come at any time.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.