The Conservative Party appeared on the Illinois ballot this week, for the jointly elected offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Preliminary election returns show it received 4.28% of the vote.
According to this story, the Illinois State Board of Elections agrees that in the 80 counties (out of 102) in which the party exceeded 5% for Governor, the Conservative Party is now ballot-qualified in those 80 counties, but only for partisan county office.
This conclusion by the Illinois Board of Elections is startling. In 2014, the Libertarian Party nominee for Governor polled over 5% of the vote in Alexander, Bond, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Gallatin, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Henderson, Henry, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jersey, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Lee, Livingston, Logan, McDonough, Macoupin, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Menard, Mercer, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Peoria, Perry, Piatt, Pike, Pope, Pulaski, Putnam, Randolph, Richland, Saline, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby, Stark, Stephenson, Tazewell, Union, Vermilion, Washington, and Williamson Counties. But, as far as is known, no one thought the Libertarian Party was then ballot-qualified for partisan county offices in those 69 counties.
Maybe this is connected to the full slate decision, 10 IlCS 10-2 permits an “established political party” to remain qualified based on the performance of any candidate. For a new political party, the requirement is based on the total vote for all candidates.
I’m not sure if the decision is explicit about this point, but if it violates equal protection to require some parties to have full slates, then surely it violates equal protection to have different standards for remaining qualified.
The libertarian Party may have qualified in two counties based on votes for local candidates. The treasurer candidate is from Bourbonnais in Kankakee County where he received 5.1% of the vote. The AG candidate is from Du Quoin in Perry County where he recived 12.2% of the vote. He may have received much of the Bubba vote.
Note that McCann finished second in one county. In Texas, election judges are doled out to the two largest parties.
ONE MORE DONKEY MACHINATION TO DIVIDE AND CONQUER REMAINING ELEPHANTS IN IL ???
The Illinois Conservative Party. A reason not to stay home.
Fake party, pathetic candidate. Filed party paperwork six months after candidate filing with $0 in the bank. Puts out mail fliers with the party’s name on it, while having no money in the bank. First party filing will have negative funds in the bank – election fraud.
Hard to trust the eventual chairman Sam McCann when all of his dark money came from Democrats, specifically Michael Madigan and governor-elect JB Pritzker.
84 counties – and they have no party infrastructure to run candidates for political office. They have no infrastructure in place to keep anyone from running on their party line and sabotaging their status (which will only be good until the 2020 election anyway).
Take in consideration that most of these counties and their state’s attorneys will focus more on the statewide percentage and not the county result, meaning no Conservative primary.
In other words, the Illinois “Fake Conservative Party”: just another reason to stay home or vote Libertarian.
@Jake Leonard,
Is the Libertarian Party now qualied in Perry and Kankakee counties?
This is not based on § 10-2 but § 7-2. Apparently, the ISBE is simply interpreting § 7-2 of the Election Code literally. In particular, this sentence:
“A political party, which at the general election for State and county officers then next preceding a primary, cast more than 5 per cent of the entire vote cast in any county, is hereby declared to be a political party within the meaning of this Article, within said county, and shall nominate all county officers in said county under the provisions hereof, and shall elect precinct, township, and ward committeemen, as herein provided.” 10 ILCS 5/7.2.
If the Libertarian Party never realized this or acted on it after its 2014 result, don’t feel too bad. Frankly, I think we in the Green Party committed the same failure in 2010. Even though my 2010 vote fell below 5 percent statewide, I am pretty sure that we got over 5 percent in a number of counties, but overlooked the same provision and failed to act on it in 2012.
At any rate, to answer Jim’s question, then, yes, the Libertarian Party would also be established — for county race purposes only — in any county in which any of its state candidates received over 5 percent of the vote.
@Rich, wouldn’t the County Clerk be required to put them on the ballot? Or was it just sort of a “woopsie, we didn’t know that, and nobody corrected us” kind of thing?
@Jake, if the information here is correct, the LP should look into contacting the counties where they got over 5 percent. It might not be much but it’s something.
@Jim, election judges are partisan in Illinois too. As far as I know, if a third party is established, that doesn’t change anything. The Green Party was established for a while and I don’t recall Green judges being required to serve — not even sure if they were allowed to serve, actually. Illinois has really bad election laws by the way.