A court order sought by the Liberty Justice Center (LJC) to block the Illinois State Board of Elections’ attempts to change rules regarding access to ballots mid-election was granted on Wednesday, according to a press release.
The law firm press statement The court announced it had upheld the Democratic Party’s injunction against the state bill. The bill was swiftly signed into law by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in early May and went into effect. The decision came after LJC filed an emergency motion seeking a preliminary injunction on May 13. (Related: Blue State Bill Reclassifies ‘Criminals’ as ‘Justice Affected Individuals’)
“We applaud the court’s decision to uphold the rule of law and uphold the right to vote for all Illinoisans,” LJC Senior Counsel Jeffrey Schwab said in a press release. “We look forward to continuing to defend these fundamental rights in court and will do everything in our power to ensure that the preliminary injunction is made permanent.”
BREAKING NEWS 🚨 We have secured a court order halting enforcement of PA 103-0586, a bill that seeks to change the rules in the middle of an election cycle.
We applaud the Court’s decision to uphold the rule of law and uphold the voting rights of all Illinoisans. Continued… pic.twitter.com/9zd8LcQz7O
— Liberty Justice Center (@LJCenter) May 22, 2024
LJC is lawsuit In late May, he filed a lawsuit against the Illinois State Board of Elections, alleging that the state had “violated the constitutional right to vote by repealing the election law in the middle of an election.”
If approved, PA 103-0586 would partially restrict access to the ballot and affect candidates running for state legislature. Previously, if no candidate ran in a state party’s primary, the party could nominate its own candidate “if the candidate gathered the requisite number of petition signatures.” This law would prohibit either party from doing so.
“Have you ever heard of changing the rules of an actual election while you’re actually gathering signatures?” said Illinois Republican Sen. Terry Bryant. WSILTV“So right now, we have multiple candidates across the state, both Democrats and Republicans, gathering signatures to get on the ballot, and now that all stops,” he said.
Bryant went on to say that while candidates are still allowed to run as independents, not only will more signatures be required, but it will be “rare” for independents to win.
The suspension of PA 103-0586 pauses implementation of the law while the litigation continues, allowing candidates affected by the change to “proceed with the signature gathering process and submit their candidacy petitions to the Board of Elections,” the LJC said in a press statement.
The next public hearing is scheduled for June 3rd.
