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This just in… Special election ruling handed down

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Illinois
Burris

* 6:49 pm - Judge John Grady’s order is exactly what we expected. The special US Senate election will take place Nov. 2nd. No primary will be held. Winners of the February primary and those who otherwise qualify for the ballot will appear on the special election ballot. Read Judge Grady’s permanent injunction order by clicking here.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 2, 10 @ 6:49 pm

Comments

This sounds reasonable actually!

Comment by Levois Monday, Aug 2, 10 @ 7:03 pm
see ya’ Sen. Burris! Make sure you put this little detail on your tombstone.

Comment by Park Monday, Aug 2, 10 @ 7:09 pm
Let the games begin…. who will file suit first??

….this is way from ovaaa!

Comment by LibertyBell Monday, Aug 2, 10 @ 8:04 pm
Reading the judge’s decision, it sounds like Illinois will have a newly elected Senator sometime between Nov. 24 and Nov. 28 (at the latest). Is that the way other people read it ???

Comment by Retired Non-Union Guy Monday, Aug 2, 10 @ 8:39 pm
Yes Retired Non-Union Guy… like 4 weeks he will serve, and for all this we get What?? (shrugs)…

… and the only people this helps??.. is Obermans ego, and Judge Grady’s non-legacy.

Gawd help our state!!

Comment by LibertyBell Monday, Aug 2, 10 @ 9:06 pm
Who filed the lawsuit that resulted in this ruling?

Comment by Esteban Monday, Aug 2, 10 @ 9:20 pm
I read somewhere that this was filed sometime in 2009. Not long after Burris was finally inaugurated as Senator and not long after Blago was removed from office. Not sure who filed however.

Comment by Levois Monday, Aug 2, 10 @ 9:30 pm
==Who filed the lawsuit that resulted in this ruling?==
Clicking on the link above reveals Gerald Anthony Judge and David Kindler were the plaintiffs. I don’t know who they are…

Comment by Vote Quimby! Monday, Aug 2, 10 @ 9:42 pm
This is the single dumbest idea I’ve ever heard in politics, and as an Illinoisan, that’s saying something! This election should have been ordered over a year ago, and we should have already elected a replacement for Obama. I know the back story, yadda, yadda, yadda… What should have happened didn’t, so now we’re once again held up as an example of how not to do politics. Brilliant!

I sincerely hope Burris challenges this nonsense and wins or at least ties it up long enough to make it moot. We have far better embarrassing and unnecessary things to spend tax dollars on.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Aug 2, 10 @ 10:22 pm
Judge Grady refers to “resignation of then-Senator Barack Obama” in two places. Proper respect would dictate it should be President Elect Barack Obama. Sorry if this sounds petty, but I notice these things.

Comment by Cheswick Monday, Aug 2, 10 @ 10:51 pm
Found the plaintiffs’ June 1, 2009, brief on appeal, which answers some questions.

blogs.chicagotribune.com/files/june-1-2009-plaintiffs-appeal-brief.pdf

The appeal was filed after an April 16, 2009, ruling. Apparently, they wanted the governor to issue a special election back in February of 2009. He didn’t, so they took their case to federal court. The federal court didn’t make him, so they took it to the appellate court.

But, this is where it gets interesting. There really wasn’t a requirement for the governor to set a special election back then. However, there is a requirement for him to set a special election at the time of the next election of representatives (November 2010).

And with the slow pace of the appellate process, we’re now upon that time. So, voila, we have today’s Permanent Injunction Order.

Should Roland should sue the State Board of Elections for not giving notice of the time within which to get his petition on file to be in the special election?

Too many pages to read this late at night. What am I missing?

Comment by Cheswick Monday, Aug 2, 10 @ 11:18 pm
Here’s Carl Officer’s chance to run for US Senate!

Comment by Peggy SO-IL Tuesday, Aug 3, 10 @ 12:37 am
So it means that if you want Giannoulais, you vote for him twice. It means that if you want Kirk, you vote for him twice.

Double voting! That is so Illinois!

Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Aug 3, 10 @ 8:51 am
VanillaMan - very true. Maybe the voters are used to voting twice but I’m concerned about how Election Day will go. Even if the media and state steps up to clarify things with voters I figure there are going to be lots of questions for election judges. And questions for judges mean long lines and God knows what else. Also, does anybody know the details of how this works on ballot position?

Comment by Pre Tuesday, Aug 3, 10 @ 9:49 am
FYI: for ballot position the special election is behind the normal election. Some would estimate that there is a 1.5 to 2% drop off.

Comment by Pre Tuesday, Aug 3, 10 @ 10:16 am
Great chance to vote for the Green Party for the Special Election.

Comment by D.P. Gumby Tuesday, Aug 3, 10 @ 11:10 am
Why does a federal judge get to decide who the candidates will be in a special election?

The federal courts created this silly situation, and now they want to make it simple? Give me a break.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 6:50 am