On March 12, Illinois bills in both houses of the legislature passed out of committee. They would let voters decide in the secrecy of the voting booth which party’s primary ballot to choose. That idea, if passed, would make a profound change in Illinois election procedures. Currently, elections officials make a record of which party’s primary ballot a voter chooses, and that permits the state to impose some restrictions on that voter’s later political activity, such as running for office in another party’s primary. The bills are SB 1666 and HB 825. Thanks to Steve Rankin for the news.

The U.S. Supreme Court held oral argument on March 24 in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, the case over the intersection between federal campaign laws and a movie that was never shown but which was critical of Hillary Clinton as a potential president. Here is the link to the oral argument.

Eric Sundwall, Libertarian Party nominee in the special U.S. House election in New York’s 20th district, was removed from the ballot on March 25 by the Board of Elections. He collected 7,000 signatures in 10 days to meet a requirement of 3,500 signatures. But slightly over half of the signers put their mailing address on the petition without also indicating their township. Sundwall is already in court fighting the ruling. See this story.