On April 21, the Illinois Supreme Court issued an opinion in Elam v Municipal Officers Electoral Board for Village of Riverdale, 2021-IL-127080. It said that the election law does not permit anyone to circulate for a primary candidate and then later circulate for an independent candidate, in the same year, even if the offices were different. Here is the eleven page opinion.

On page ten, the opinion says, “Circulators are the cadre of any political movement. A party needs a cadre to exist. Once a circulator acts on a party’s behalf to solicit signatures, he remains the party’s agent (if he is active at all) for the electoral season. This helps political parties to act as entities selecting and offering candidates to the voters.” The decision also says in the next paragraph that it cause voter confusion if a circulator circulated both types of petition. These paragraphs seem absurd. A circulator may be a professional and it seems odd for the government to care about his or her motives. No one would propose a law that a campaign consultant couldn’t work on a primary campaign and then another campaign for an independent candidate in the same year.