On May 28, the Illinois Senate amended an election law bill to include a provision doubling the number of signatures needed to run for Alderman of Chicago. Existing law requires a petition signed by 2% of the last vote cast, but the amendment changes that to 4%. In the typical district, the requirement would rise from approximately 350, to approximately 700 signatures.

HB 2418 started out as a bill to alter the deadline for School Board petitions, and had been introduced in February. The original bill was ten pages, but the Senate added so many amendments, the bill is now 217 pages. The author of the Senate amendment is Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park). The Senate passed the amended bill on May 29 by a vote of 32-20, and the House passed it on May 30 by 66-49. It appears no newspaper has yet mentioned the amendment doubling the number of signatures for Alderman candidates.

The bill briefly also had an amendment to alter the method by which Lieutenant Governor candidates are nominated, but that amendment was removed. Current law says gubernatorial candidates choose a Lieutenant Governor running mate before the primary. The amendment, which was inserted and then deleted a day later, would have changed that to provide gubernatorial candidates choose a running mate after they have won the primary. It is possible Governor Pat Quinn will use his power to amend bills and will delete the provision doubling the number of signtures. Alderman elections in Chicago are non-partisan. Thanks to Patrick Kelly of the Illinois Green Party for this news.

Meanwhile, the federal lawsuit against the number of signatures needed to run for Chicago citywide offices (including Mayor) is still pending in U.S. District Court. That case is Stone v Board of Election Commissioners for Chicago, 1:10cv-7727. It is now three years old and still hasn’t had a decision from the U.S. District Court. The mayoral petition requirement is 12,500.