On October 4, an Illinois State Court of Appeals upheld a decision of a lower state court, keeping the Constitution Party statewide slate of nominees off the ballot. The State Court of Appeals says the slate has 24,935 valid signatures. 25,000 are needed. Here is the six-page decision, Constitution Party v State Board of Elections, 1-10-2813, First Appellate District.
The Court upheld an unclear Illinois law that seems to say that if anyone circulates a petition for any partisan office during the primary season, that person is barred from collecting signatures for any independent or minor party candidate in the general election, even if the two petitions were for entirely different office. If the court had struck down that law, or interpreted it differently, the statewide slate would have had 25,017 valid signatures. The party may appeal that to the State Supreme Court. The State Supreme Court earlier this year put a Republican candidate for the legislature on the ballot, even though he had voted in the Democratic primary last year. The Constitution Party will be able to argue that it is absurd to let someone run for office even though he or she had that connection with a different party in the recent past, and at the same time disallow anyone from petitioning for two different parties in the same year.