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* Pearson at the Tribune…
A judge in Springfield on Wednesday issued a temporary injunction blocking a law passed by Democrats that would have prevented Republicans from slating candidates for legislative races not filled in the March primary.
Sangamon County Judge Gail Noll issued the order pending a hearing on June 3, which had been the statutory date for filling the unfilled candidate slots on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the measure into law on May 3 shortly after Democratic majorities in the House and Senate passed the legislation in a two-day tour de force.
Basically, the judge told the State Board of Elections not to reject the locally slated candidates. The board has already said it would continue processing the filings until the courts worked it out.
…Adding… Senate Republican Leader John Curran…
“This was a gross manipulation of the electoral process by Gov. Pritzker and his Democratic allies that was clearly outside of constitutional bounds. We look forward to the Illinois courts restoring choices for voters in legislative districts throughout this state.”
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, May 22, 24 @ 7:01 pm
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Out of all of the sort of iffy practices that occur in this state, this one bothers me the least and this isn’t a big deal in terms of a reform which is why it was passed into law and signed in the first place.
This law doesn’t prevent anyone from running for office during the primary. All it does is prevent a local party from slating a candidate after no one runs in the primary. While a party can abuse this process, someone can simply ignore party bosses and get on a primary ballot if they want to. Putting an end to this process will ultimately mean that voters will have fewer choices in any given election cycle in districts that may not be seen as being very competitive, or where there may not be much of a bench.
The voters gave Illinois Democrats a super majority and all of the state wide office for a reason, and that reason wasn’t so that they would make it harder for the Republican party to field opponents in general elections.
The reason why this got rushed through the legislature and signed into fashion so quickly is because this new law is inherently undemocratic and runs against the ideals that the Democratic Party likes to say they believe in.
Signing this into law is also not very presidential. Signing it into law for the current election cycle knowing the impact it would have is down right corrupt.
This is the kind of blatant corrupt BS that I had hoped was over in this state. Illinois deserves better than this law and the people that pushed it through the legislature and the legislators that passed it should be ashamed of themselves.
What does this say about our institutions? What does this say about the Democratic Party? What does this say about those individual legislators?
Not a good look. I thought we were going to be better than this, but maybe there’s too much of the stink that allowed Mike Madigan’s corrupt practices to continue for decades on our Democratic elected officials.
Comment by Candy Dogood Wednesday, May 22, 24 @ 7:45 pm
To issue the preliminary injunction, the judge needs to make a determination that the Plaintiff’s have a likelihood of success on the merits. That’s significant in this type of challenge to the constitutionality of a statute.
Comment by Screen Marlin Wednesday, May 22, 24 @ 7:58 pm
Candy Dogood - couldn’t agree more. These political parties are only interested in preserving their own power. If the Republicans had the super majority, you would see the same crap. All of the politicians preach reform of whatever fits their agenda, but none of them wants to reform a 2 party system that has been broken for decades.
Comment by Southern Dude Wednesday, May 22, 24 @ 8:00 pm
The bill was an insane abuse of political power even for a state party that drew the most gerrymandered maps in state history and have the most corruption arrests and convictions in the country in the last decade. They deserve the legal smackdown and should be ashamed of themselves. I doubt they will be. By they I mean Illinois Democrats to be clear.
Comment by State of the Union Wednesday, May 22, 24 @ 10:23 pm
Why didn’t the legislation include appointments for county offices??
Comment by Spooky32 Wednesday, May 22, 24 @ 10:36 pm
I love the self-righteousness of adherents of a party that is literally depriving people the right to vote and making it harder for others based on lies of massive voter fraud. Contrast that with a law prohibiting a party from anointing a candidate who didn’t face voters in a party primary.
As for the injunction we’ll see if the MAGA GOP judge’s ruling survives appellate review.
Comment by Norseman Wednesday, May 22, 24 @ 10:53 pm
===that is literally depriving people the right to vote===
It fits right and line with the extent to which Chicago polling places remain inaccessible for people with disabilities.
Comment by Candy Dogood Thursday, May 23, 24 @ 12:10 am
Example of pure power politics - a bill that was rushed through in a few days that has no benefit to the residents of Illinois - it exists only to help the Dems to manipulate the election process to maintain a supermajority. Sure some can point to a whatabout towards the GOP, but this law is an example of politics at its worst.
Comment by Donnie Elgin Thursday, May 23, 24 @ 7:03 am
=By they I mean Illinois Democrats to be clear.=
Maybe give Norseman’s post a read to update yourself on the pure hypocrisy of the ilgop calling anyone out or attempting to take the moral high ground on anything related to elections.
Comment by JS Mill Thursday, May 23, 24 @ 8:26 am
It is a garbage law.
If the law applied to all slating sessions to fill vacancies in nomination following a primaries and had an effective date beginning in a future election cycle, it would be a different story.
Comment by Gravitas Thursday, May 23, 24 @ 8:33 am
In granting the request for preliminary injunction the judge also said she would review the law under the strict scrutiny standard. This means that to prevail now, the AG has to establish that the law was passed to further a compelling governmental interest and the law is narrowly tailored to achieve that interest. Don’t see that happening when the law only applies to general assembly races.
Comment by Judge Learned Foot Thursday, May 23, 24 @ 9:25 am
This law is not going to be enforced for 2024. No one is questioning whether the General Assembly had the right to make this change for future elections. The issue is entirely that Illinois case law is clear that they cannot change the rules of the election in the middle of the game
Comment by Beef combo Thursday, May 23, 24 @ 9:55 am
For example, if the General Assembly wanted to, they could raise the signature requirement for state rep from 500 to 1,500 for 2026. However, they could not have made that change a month before signatures were due
Comment by Beef combo Thursday, May 23, 24 @ 10:46 am
If a political party can’t slate a candidate for a primary election, why should they get a “second bite at the apple” prior to the general election by appointing their pet candidate?
I see nothing wrong with the legislation.
Isn’t that the point of the primary election process? Each party puts up their best candidates to allow the public to select who will run in the general election?
What is undemocratic is the idea that a political party can by-pass a primary election and appointment a candidate for the general election.
Comment by Huh? Thursday, May 23, 24 @ 10:54 am
=it would be a different story.=
Then it is the timing and not the actual law you have an issue with.
Comment by JS Mill Thursday, May 23, 24 @ 10:54 am
I could not find anything in the bill but how would this now-injuncted law affect Third Party and write-in candidates? Are they also shut out of the election?
Comment by NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham Thursday, May 23, 24 @ 11:01 am
The General Assembly could have written an appropriate election law accomplishing this result in an impartial and neutral manner. The timing of this bill’s passage and enactment was blatantly partisan. It is unfair to change the rules in the middle of a game. Candidates were being slated and some were collecting petitions to fill vacancies in nomination at the very time this law was jammed through.
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Comment by temekahxy34 Friday, May 24, 24 @ 6:14 am