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Gill concedes the inevitable, bows out

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Illinois

An independent congressional candidate is finally throwing in the towel.

David Gill had been suing for a spot on the ballot in the 13th District, despite failing to submit the required number of valid signatures for an independent candidate. Gill won an initial court ruling after arguing the state’s rules were unfair and burdensome but that decision was overturned on appeal. And two attempts to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court have been rejected.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 2:58 pm

Comments

The Combine wins again!!1!

Can somebody ask Kass if I did that right?

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 3:15 pm
His legal challenges to election law are still being pursued, those issues have not been decided. The issue SCOTUS rejected was whether the courts could put him on the ballot while those constitutional issues were still being litigated. He has a good chance in the 7th Circuit of winning his arguments that the notary requirement for every page and the signature requirement within 90 days are both unconstitutional. The Libertarians will probably win their lawsuit against the full-slate requirement in the 7th Circuit also.

Comment by Jeff Trigg Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 3:20 pm
It’s too bad, I don’t care about Gill but I supported his cause. Ballot access should be equal and the majority parties should not be enshrining tyranny.

Comment by Ahoy! Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 3:22 pm
If ballot access is to be equal, should the independent candidates go through the primary election process?

Essentially as the law is written, independent candidates have to get more signatures than those candidates who are winnowed in the primaries. What is wrong with that?

Comment by Huh? Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 3:43 pm
Perhaps the Legislature can make any court challenge moot by changing the requirement. Still more - like twice the largest amount required by an established party candidate or a certain number like 1,000 or 2,000 or whatever over that number - to still keep it to serious candidates. Will be interesting to see what this spurs.

Comment by LessAnon? Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 3:46 pm
I guess Ol’ Gill will never get a lick of that shiny brass ring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRWAQ255qhs

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 3:47 pm
This bites. I live in the 13th, and I’m still writing him in.

Comment by Lynn S. Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 9:27 pm
Actually there is a write in line on the ballots for this race because Gill has until a week before the election to file papers to be a write in candidate, but his write in votes won’t be counted if he doesn’t file those papers.

Also, the statement in the story that Gill’s initial victory was overturned on appeal is inccorrect…it was stayed. The actual appeal is still pending and it remains to be seen if his initial victory is affirmed or overturned. However, if affirmed, it will be a meaningless victory because the election will be over (unless a special election is ordered).

Comment by Johnny Justice Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 11:05 pm
==If ballot access is to be equal, should the independent candidates go through the primary election process?==

Quick disclaimer that my poli/sci bona fides are non-existent or really weak, so laugh me off if I offend.

Primaries shouldn’t be a requirement for any party. Leaving the major parties aside (simply to try to avoid partisanship in my reasoning), if 2 or more Libertarian candidates were after the same office, and neither would concede to help out the other, the Libertarian Party would want a primary election to see who their constituency wanted to represent them for the office. And that just makes sense, right? Because otherwise, each candidate would poach the other and they’d both lose.

Comment by iwillquoteyouonthis Friday, Oct 7, 16 @ 8:48 am