David Gill, an independent candidate for U.S. House in the Illinois 13th district, has been challenged off the ballot. He needs 10,754 valid signatures and he was found to have only 8,593. According to this story, he will soon file a lawsuit challenging the number of signatures needed by independents for U.S. House in Illinois.

In all of Illinois history, no petitioning candidate for U.S. House in the general election has ever overcome a petition requirement greater than 9,698, if the petition was challenged. The toughest petition requirement ever met by an Illinois petitioning candidate who was challenged was the 9,698 required in 1974 in the 15th district. That candidate was K. Douglas Lassiter. Thanks to Phil Huckelberry for the link.

On July 20, an en banc panel of all 15 full-time Fifth Circuit judges issued an opinion in Veasey v State of Texas, 14-41127. Nine of the fifteen voted that the Texas law requiring certain kinds of government photo-ID law have a racially disparate effect, and therefore the law violates Section Two of the Voting Rights Act. Most members of the majority held that Texas legislators did not intend to discriminate, but that the law in reality does discriminate.

The decision is significant because ten of the fifteen judges are appointees of Republican presidents. All of the judges appointed by Democratic presidents were in the majority, but also four Republican appointees were in the majority. Those Republican appointees are Judges W. Eugene Davis, Edward Prado, Leslie Southwick, and Catharina Haynes. The majority opinion is 86 pages. Two judges in the majority dissented and said they believe the legislature acted with discriminatory intent, and each wrote separately. The judges who wanted to uphold the law wrote several dissents. The main dissent is 68 pages long; another dissent is three pages; yet another is six pages. The entire package has 203 pages.

The majority does not strike down the Texas law, but says it must be changed so that persons who cannot get the required ID must have some means of voting anyway. The majority sends the case back to the U.S. District Court for that Court to fashion a specific remedy. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

On July 20, a lower Illinois state court ruled that the initiative to set up an independent redistricting commission to draws legislative district lines cannot be on the November 2016 ballot, even though it has enough signatures. She said the Illinois Constitution only permits initiatives for measures that makes changes in the procedures of the legislature. See this story. The case is Hooker v Illinois State Board of Elections, 16 CH-6539. The proponents will appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.