On August 18, a trial state court in Illinois rejected the attempt of Lake County Coroner Thomas Rudd to run for re-election as an independent. He had enough valid signatures, but he was still kept off the ballot because late last year, he filed a petition to run in the Democratic primary for the same office. He withdrew his primary petition, so was not on the March 2016 primary ballot. But the state court ruled that individuals who submit primary petitions cannot run as independents in the general, even if they didn’t actually run in the primary. See this story.
Illinois election law is a mess. Said another way, despite freedom of association, Illinois locks one into affiliation with a party, even if they no longer desire. Also, it’s often assumed that the act of submitting a petition is an act that legally affiliates one with a party; however, as evidenced by the required statutory language on such petitions, I suspect that this process, as originally envisioned, involves one affirming that they already are affiliated with that party–something that should be a rebuttable presumption.