This Illinois Herald story gives interesting details about how Republicans tried to persuade signers of the Illinois Libertarian statewide slate petition to remove or disavow their signatures, and how some of the petitioners themselves were threatened. The Illinois Herald is an on-line weekly newspaper published in Chicago by Mark Wachtler. Thanks to Independent Political Report for the link.
The Southern Illinoisan has been awfully quiet about this blatant attack on the rights of voters for some reason, aside from what I’ve managed to do. I sent them a letter to the editor about the initial ballot access challenges and they decided to publish it, so I’ve just submitted a second one specifically about this voter intimidation. Hopefully it gets the same treatment the first one did (published online and in the Sunday edition paper).
I’m still voting Green for Federal and State House of Representatives (I live in the IL-12th district), but I’m likely to vote Libertarian for the Senate and statewide offices this year. I don’t agree with most of the Libertarian Party’s economic views, but I agree with them on social/drug/civil liberties policy, and I also think the Democrats and especially the Republicans need to be sent a nice F.U. for trying to destroy voter rights/choice, and the Libertarians receiving over 5% of the vote would be a nice way to send it this time around.
It took a major struggle to get the SECRET ballot in the 1800s.
Another major struggle to get the SECRET petition signatures ???