On July 24, the “binder check” process started for the Illinois Green Party. Because the party’s petition for statewide office is being challenged, the party must supply twelve individuals who will spend all day, during weekdays, sitting in a State Elections Board office and poring over each signature that has been challenged. The challengers must have an equal number of workers, but typically when the challengers represent major party figures, those major parties pay their workers.
Worse for the Green Party is that the State Board of Elections is not conducting this process in Chicago, even though the State Board has offices in Chicago. Most of the Green Party workers live in the Chicago area.
I’m wondering if anyone has challenged the two major parties? Given this is a Democratic stronghold, have the Republicans been challenged?
I haven’t heard of them being challenged. Besides, this is one of the many issues where the Democrats and Republicans are more than happy to work together with each other much of the time, restricting voter choice to themselves.
Democratic and Republican nominees are automatically on the general election ballot. After they have been nominated in the March primary, they don’t need a petition.
But it’s possible to challenge individual Democratic and Republican candidate primary petitions, but that goes on in December of the year before the election.
We actually refused to participate in the binder check. They of course conducted it anyway. We have not yet received detail on the outcome but there is a good chance we will introduce this as evidence in the federal lawsuit.
glad to see that signature books are being counted. Has this been done before? Not often, if so.