* We talked about this last month, but here’s Hannah Meisel…

Campaign contributions from out-of-staters and so-called dark money groups will be banned in Illinois judicial campaigns beginning in January under legislation Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law Monday. […]

But making Illinois the first state to outright ban certain political contributions to judicial candidates is the biggest change contained in the law, which comes a year after an Illinois Supreme Court justice first elected as a Democrat became the first sitting high court member in state history to lose his retention bid — an expensive race fueled in part by dark money.

Republicans voted against Stuart’s legislation last month, with several members arguing during the House debate that the majority party was making another adjustment in state elections law to benefit their party.

“This is another effort for the majority [party] to change the rules of the game because they don’t like the outcome,” State Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) said before voting no on the bill. “And the voters of the state of Illinois are noticing that the policies and practices and elected officials that they’ve put in power have not served them well.”

I mean, I get it, but I’m still not sure how you can claim with a straight face that a bill to ban dark money contributions is a scary bad thing.

* There’s more to the omnibus bill…

The law also makes adjustments in deadlines and other technical requirements for candidates in next year’s primary election because it’s later. Pritzker signed a law in June moving the primary from March 15 to June 28 because late-arriving 2020 Census numbers delayed the drawing of new congressional district boundaries.

Under the law, which takes effect immediately, any polling place that is accessible to voters with disabilities and elderly voters shall include at least one voting booth that is wheelchair accessible. […]

Another change allows voters to designate sex on voter registration forms as “male,” “female” or “non-binary.”

…Adding… Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul Schimpf…

Out of all of the items included in SB 536, improving and increasing election integrity safeguards was not one of them.

If the Democrats are going to make voting vastly more accessible, they need to increase voting safeguards. Yet, they are so focused on their one-party control that they don’t even consider what the voters want—and Illinoisans want to know their vote will be counted fairly and securely. But Democrats couldn’t even reach across the aisle to make election integrity a pillar of our voting process. Good government and governance starts at the top and under JB Pritzker’s leadership deficit, Illinois voters will experience another election with a lack of safeguards that promote integrity in the system.

I would have VETOED SB 536 because of the lack of election integrity safeguards. Integrity and trust must be restored in our elections.

I’ve asked what specific safeguards he was talking about, since he didn’t mention any. I’ll let you know.

…Adding… [The bill in this deleted update had been signed previously. Oops. Sorry about that.]