Illinois Legislature Passes Bill Moving Petition Deadline for Independent Candidates and the Nominees of Unqualified Parties from June to May

Posted on by June 9, 2024

On May 25, the Illinois legislature passed HB 4488, which moves the petition deadline for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties from late June to late May.  Furthermore, it shrinks the petitioning period from three months to two months.

The bill had been introduced early this year on the subject of Crohns and Colitis Awareness, health concerns that do not relate to election law.  But on May 23, the Senate deleted all the original contents of the bill and substituted various election law provisions, including the ballot access restrictions.  It passed the Senate in its new version on May 24, and passed the House again on May 25.  It was sent to Governor J. B. Pritzker on June 6.  The news media has not reported on the bill’s ballot access restrictions.  The bill does not take effect until 2025.

Assuming it is signed into law, there is a good probability that it will be held unconstitutional.  Petition deadlines for presidential candidates running in the general election are unconstitutional if they are that early.  June petition deadlines have been overturned in Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Nevada, and South Dakota.  May petition deadlines have been overturned in Idaho, and Massachusetts.

Comments

Illinois Legislature Passes Bill Moving Petition Deadline for Independent Candidates and the Nominees of Unqualified Parties from June to May — 18 Comments

  1. Hopefully it’s held unconstitutional. Corrupt billionaire Pritzker proved that he hates democracy.

  2. The is bad. Even if the 90 day circulating is made to start earlier it is still bad timing. Colder weather earlier in the year for one thing.

  4. Give them six weeks in the middle of winter and make them collect autographs without their coats.

  5. Let’s say a candidate for president (or his/her electors) is on the ballot in 40+ states. It should be seen as incredibly rude if the remaining states did not include him or her on the ballot.

    That feeling gets overridden when people are afraid that one of the candidates is dangerous to them. The Illinois legislature pushed this through because they believe that many people either find Kennedy dangerous, or think Kennedy will help swing the election towards Trump or Biden (whichever they fear). Obviously the legislators have their own selfish reasons, but that’s actually irrelevant. Legislators that greatly offend their constituents don’t get re-elected.

  8. “Illinois legislature passed HB 4488, which moves the petition deadline for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties from late June to late May”
    Good, now do the uniparty’s certification deadline as well.

    “Furthermore, it shrinks the petitioning period from three months to two months”
    Bad, just let them start petitioning a month earlier.

    “The bill had been introduced early this year on the subject of Crohns and Colitis Awareness, health concerns that do not relate to election law. But on May 23, the Senate deleted all the original contents of the bill and substituted various election law provisions, including the ballot access restrictions”
    They always do this BS. Bill’s, spending packages, even ballot issues, should never be allowed to composite multiple different topics which should be voted on separately. As it used to be. None of this sneaking through something by hiding on page 3000 of completely unrelated legislation. Why hasn’t this been made illegal yet? Oh right…

  9. IL LEGIS –LIKE ALL STATE LEGIS—

    ANTI-DEMOCRACY MINORITY RULE GERRYMANDER LEGISLATIVE BODIES —

    1/2 OR LESS VOTES X 1/2 RIGGED CRACKED/PACKED GERRYMANDER DISTRICTS = 1/4 OR LESS CONTROL = OLIGARCHY

    SUPER-WORSE EXTREMIST PRIMARY MATH — WITH MONARCH GANG TYRANT BOSSES.
    —
    REMEDY – P.R.

    NOOO PRIMARIES

    PRE-ELECTION CANDIDATE RANK ORDER LISTS OF ALL CANDIDATES IN ALL DISTRICTS

    TOTAL VOTES / TOTAL MEMBERS = EQUAL VOTES TO ELECT

    SURPLUS VOTES DOWN

    LOSER VOTES UP

    ALL VOTES COUNT

  10. I agree with Don of all Dons, and furthermore propose that they be required to collect autographs outdoors in the Chicago winter in their skivvies.

  12. Kampala Harris is the only one waiting, since they’re not allowed to pass her over, or they would have already done it.

    Don of all Dons is of course correct.

  13. Folks with crohns and colitis should be made aware of this. They should be able to comment on how shortening the petitioning period adversely affects their medical conditions.

  14. In Indiana they are more honest. They have multiple shell bills. They can stuff anything in them, instead of gutting a bill like in Illinois.

    In Texas this ploy would be out of order.

  15. Walter Ziobro: I was talking about this bill with Mr. Redpath yesterday and it’s crazy that it has NOTHING to do with awareness of Crohn’s or colitis. Much like Jim Riley said, they (as the Democrats did) will essentially scrap the language of the entire bill and put in language that has nothing to do with it, hence the sneaking a bunch of nonsense relating to the Illinois Elections Code in rushing a vote on it. (And not a single media outlet in Illinois, including The Center Square and Capitol News Illinois, have uttered a single word about it.)

    Progressive Leftist: That is our hope. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve gotten legislation declared unconstitutional.

    Andy: Petitioning usually starts a week to two weeks after the Illinois primary. My understanding is that part isn’t changing in 2026. The only thing that will change is the petitioning period length and the filing deadline if Pritzker signs it into law. And much like Mr. Redpath has already, I plan to contact my legislators regardless of what happens, because if they’re going to slash the petitioning period by 28 to 30 days, then the threshold for “new parties” and independents should be slashed to a range of 10,000 to 15,000 signatures.

  16. ANY STATE N-O-T HAVE SHELL BILLS – ESP FOR LAST SECOND ELECTION LAW MACHINATIONS ???

  17. Illinois politics as usual. Corruption and electoral control high on the list of priorities.

  18. Another problem that would not exist with standing vote counts..

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