Illinois’ third-party candidates file
for November election
Monday
was the deadline for third-party candidates for statewide and statehouse
offices to file nominating petition signatures. Some candidates used the
occasion to highlight what they say is an unfair political system in Illinois.
Illinois
Republicans and Democrats are considered established parties. Those parties had
a taxpayer-funded primary election in March. To get on a Democratic or
Republican ballot, candidates had to get nominating petitions turned in by Dec.
4, 2017. For the office of governor, as an example, candidates had to get 5,000
signatures. They also had to survive any possible ballot challenges.
Non-established
parties are those that have not received a certain threshold of votes from the
previous statewide election. Such parties are often referred to as third
parties. Third parties don’t get to take part in the taxpayer-funded primary in
March. Parties like the Libertarian Party of Illinois determine who their
candidates will be at private conventions.
Third
parties then have to collect and file 25,000 signatures, five times more than
what the established parties collect. They also can't circulate petitions until
after March 27, a week after the established party primary. That lends itself
to little media coverage until the final few months leading up to the general
election in November.
One
candidate who filed Monday has already gotten some attention because he’s an
elected Republican running as a third-party candidate.
State
Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview, has butted heads over the years with Gov. Bruce
Rauner and his fellow Republicans. Earlier this year, he sued Republican
leaders in the Senate for not allowing him staff for various functions. He said
that case is pending.
After
filing tens of thousands of signatures on Monday’s deadline for third parties,
McCann, standing next to his Lt. Governor candidate Aaron Merreighn, said he’s
not just running to take votes away from Rauner. He said it’s going to be a
three-way race.
“I
believe that we will take votes away from Gov. (Bruce) Rauner,” McCann said. “I
believe that we will take votes away from (Democrat) J.B. Pritzker and I
believe that we will pick up our own votes across the way. And I believe that
we will be successful.”
Libertarians
Kash Jackson and Sanjeev Mohip, and Independents Mary Vann-Metcalf and Gregg
Moore also filed by Monday’s deadline for governor and lieutenant governor,
respectively.
Libertarian
Party of Illinois Chairman Bennett Morris said the high number of required
signatures penalizes non-established party candidates. Another hurdle for
third-party candidates, Morris said, is unscientific polls promulgated by the
media.
“They
use polls that say ‘Pritzker or Rauner, that’s it, what’s your choice,'” Morris
said. “And some debate requirements are that you exceed a certain threshold in
polling. Well, if the polls don’t include you then you are automatically
preventing us from having our message heard by the people of Illinois.”
The
Libertarians said they will fight to be part of debates so their message can be
heard.
Morris
said limiting voter choice and competitive elections is actually something
Republicans and Democrats do well together.
"Protecting
their donors and their heavily gerrymandered seats have become much more important
to them than actually serving constituents or defending our rights," he
said.
Morris
said the group Fair Vote ranked Illinois' ballot-access laws fifth worst in the
U.S. and the worst state in the Midwest.
McCann
said the concept of the two main parties is contrived and unconstitutional.
“If the
people of Illinois only understood that the Democratic and Republican
legislators are playing you for fools, they’re taking your tax dollars and
they’re basically padding their own pockets,” McCann said. “This needs to
change and I’m going to make sure that it does.”
The
Illinois State Board of Elections said there’s a week for challenges to be
filed with records reviews. Aug. 24 is when the November ballot is set to be
certified.
- Institutes
- Ministries
- Libertarian Party
- Sam Mccann
- Politics
- Democrats
- Bruce Rauner
- Aaron Merreighn
- Republicans
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