Quinn Urged to Veto "Protect Incumbents Act"
Randall Stuffelbeam, Chair of the Constitution Party of Illinois; Kent McMillen, Press Relations Chair for the Libertarian Party of Illinois; and Richard Winger of Ballot Access News urged Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to veto House Bill 723, known as the Protect Incumbents Act, during a press conference held by the Free & Equal Elections Foundation in Chicago on Monday.
"HB 723 would make it nearly impossible for third parties to slate candidates in Illinois," said Free & Equal Chair Christina Tobin. "The bill would make it so that when no candidate of an established party runs in a primary for a particular office, that party can only fill the vacancy in nomination if the candidate they "slate" collects a large number of signatures."
3 comments:
The bill actually ends the practice of keeping someone on the ballot so they can step down and be replaced by someone else. I think it is a good idea to force candidates to get signatures rather than let a roomful of people make the decision who should be on the ballot. This isn't incumbent protection, this is actually a fair way to do it.
I think "anonymous" is confused. This bill is about limiting competition... end of story.
This would be a great idea if the Democratic Machine, and incumbents in general, didn't have the upper hand and the organization going into the election. So let's say Daddy Politician steps down, and the party slates Son/Daughter wannabe politician to replace the dad, the Democratic and Republican parties will already have the people and money in place to get the signatures - nothing changes for those with the power. Those without the money and the organization - the little guy - once again gets screwed.
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