In the middle of the 2024 campaign season, the State of Illinois has rigged its elections to ensure Democrats hold their majorities. In a move that has drawn zero mention from the supposed stalwart “defenders of democracy” in the press, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law changing ballot access rules that will allow multiple members of his party to run unopposed.
ALSO SEE: Democrat Official Caught Stuffing Ballot Box, Judge Orders New Election
The move guarantees that Democrats will face no real opposition to the size of their majorities in the state’s general assembly.
The silence from those usually concerned about the erosion of democracy is deafening.
— Jonathan H. Adler (@jadler1969) May 6, 2024
“Pritzker signs election bill that would favor Democrats in November” https://t.co/Y7KUm8kLPl
Democrats already enjoy legislative supermajorities in the Illinois House and Senate thanks to district maps drawn by party leaders following the 2020 federal census that were crafted to minimize Republican opposition.
But the election bill given final approval by Senate Democrats Thursday, a day after the bill passed the House, would further help Democrats maintain control in the next General Assembly.
Under the new law, local political party organizations can no longer appoint candidates to fill out legislative ballots where the party did not field a primary candidate. Previous law allowed the appointment process within 75 days of the primary.
In short, the rules have been changed in the middle of the game, one of the most undemocratic things imaginable. By moving the primary up a month and no longer allowing “slating,” Republican candidates counting on ballot access under the normal order will now be frozen out, allowing Democrats to run unopposed. There simply isn’t enough time to reset.
Derek Muller of The Election Law Blog explains it this way.
One can, of course, oppose the idea of “slating” and prefer that candidates petition, in the abstract and as a general matter. But, the reason many candidates did not petition was the fact that they relied on existing rules to allow them to be “slated” by the party for the general election. That rug has been yanked out from under them, leaving a number of uncontested elections in the upcoming election. Cold comfort offered here from one Illinois legislator: “‘A candidate who would want to run for General Assembly seat after the primary will have to run, as they can today, as an independent or a third-party candidate,’ Harmon said.”
Do you know who hasn’t mentioned any of this? Anyone in the mainstream press. The same “journalists” who obsess about “democracy” have absolutely nothing to say when one of the nation’s already most gerrymandered states rips the mask off and outright rigs its election. I can only attempt to imagine the outcry that would exist if say, Alabama, had taken this path to lock out Democrat candidates.
This law didn’t pass two years before an election, giving candidates time to adjust to the new rules. It was instituted seven months before voters were set to go to the polls. Now, thousands of them will not be able to vote for those they feel represent them the most because Democrats decided they shouldn’t be allowed to do so.
And no one cares because, of course, they don’t.
