(The Center Square)—The state’s law prohibiting candidates who didn’t run in a primary from getting on the general election ballot won’t go into effect this year after the Illinois Supreme Court dismissed the state’s appeal of a lower court ruled it unconstitutional.
Ron Andermann, a Republican running for the statehouse in the Chicago suburbs, said his research indicates the process of slating has been going on for as long as Illinois has been a state.
“It was a matter of giving people choice,” Andermann told The Center Square outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago earlier this week. “So in the middle of the election process, the state legislature in the matter of 48 hours under the guise of a different named bill changed the law and the governor signed it and kicked 14 of us off the ballot.”
In May, the Democratic supermajority amended Senate Bill 2412 to be a bill about election law instead of a child welfare bill. The measure prohibited slating and included three non-binding referendums for voters across the state. Within three days, both chambers approved the changes and the governor signed the measure into law.
“It really does make sure that we don’t have backroom deals to put people on the ballot and run as a result of some small group of people in a smoke-filled room making the choice,” Pritzker said before the Senate passed the measure. “So I think, to me, more transparency is better.”
A lawsuit was brought challenging the slating prohibition part of the law as it went into effect immediately, impacting this year’s election.
After winning in the lower court, the state appealed directly to the Illinois Supreme Court.
Leslie Collazo, a Republican running for the statehouse in Chicago, was the lead plaintiff. Before Friday’s ruling and outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, she highlighted what she characterized as the hypocrisy of Illinois Democrats.