This year, there will be one independent, two Libertarians, and one Green on the Illinois ballot for U.S. House. Illinois has 18 districts. This paltry number of candidates shows that the normal Illinois requirements for U.S. House are far too severe. This year, the requirement was only 10% of the normal statutory requirement of 5% of the last vote cast. Even reducing the requirements to only 10% of normal still resulted in just four candidates.
Furthermore, the Green was not required to petition, because under the court order that limited petitions to 10%, minor parties that had been on the ballot in either of the two previous election in the same U.S. House district did not need any petition. The Greens have had qualified party status in the Fifth District in every election starting with 2008.
The four candidates are independent Tracy Jennings in the Seventh District, Libertarians Bill Redpath (6th district) and Preston Gabriel Nelson (8th district), and Green Thomas J. Wilda in the Fifth District. Redpath was challenged but he survived the challenge. Jennings and Nelson were not challenged.
Of course, this begs the question of “why are the requirements ‘too severe?'” If you can’t muster signatures (not endorsements or votes) from 0.5% of the previous vote cast – and that vote was a midterm election in which turnout is always lower than in a Presidential election – then why should you be on the ballot? What public interest is served by listing numerous irrelevant alternatives?
Because being able to vote for the candidate of your choice is essential to a functioning democracy, Brian.
Brian, you might be surprised to find out that for someone to run for a seat in the Canadian Parliament, they only need 100 signatures.
And I don’t know if you’ve been under a rock or you just happen to be anti-science, but there’s a pandemic still happening which is making petitioning far more difficult that it already was to begin with. This election is the first time we’ve been allowed to use online petitioning methods and from first hand experience I can say that that also took some time to set up and adapt to.
EQUAL BALLOT ACCESS TEST(S).
MUCH TOO DIFFICULT FOR ALL THE MORON USELESS SO-CALLED LAWYERS AND WORSE JUDGES SINCE 1968 WILLIAMS V RHODES.