Illinois already has laws meant to keep so-called “sore losers” from spoiling elections. But as Brian Mackey reports, a new law will keep even more people off the ballot.
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Illinois law has long said if you run in a primary and lose, you can’t run in the general election. Not as an independent. Not as a member of another party. Not even as a write-in candidate.
But a new law goes even further: if you so much as vote in a primary, you’re not allowed to run in that year’s general election as a member of another party or an independent. The new law also applies to primary candidates who withdraw or get kicked off the ballot.
Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, says election law had to be clarified. He says he sponsored the proposal because it’s a reasonable way to prevent cross-party “mischief.”
“I think it’s very reasonable to say if you declare yourself a member of a political party for purposes of an election, then you are a member of that party through the completion of that election cycle,” Harmon says.
After languishing for nearly a year, the proposal was rushed through the Senate and signed into law by the governor in just a few days. Harmon says they hurried because candidates would soon be circulating petitions to get on the fall ballot.
— Brian Mackey
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