Correction appended
An Evanston resident seeking state office is accusing the Illinois election system of an unfair double standard.
The Libertarian Party is not a qualified party in the state of Illinois, so Steve Funk, a Libertarian who is running for State House, must run as an Independent. That means he must obtain at least 2,500 signatures to make the ballot, while his Democratic competitor, Robyn Gabel, needs only 500.
Funk currently has several hundred signatures, but he said he still sees the difference in petition requirements as an unfair and ill-disposed rule.
“It’s pretty clear that the major parties are trying to stifle competition,” Funk said. “They don’t like outsiders playing in their sandbox, so to speak. And it makes it harder for average people to get involved in government.”
A 1971 Supreme Court decision upheld higher requirements for Independents, arguing they should be required to obtain more signatures because they do not have to campaign through a primary election like major party candidates, said Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News, an online newsletter advocating for fair ballot access laws.
Furthermore, election committees don’t want numerous candidates without much support on the ballot because they want to keep it from getting too long for voters, said Crystal Jurczynski, campaign director for the Libertarian Party of Illinois.
But Jurczynski argued this justification merely cloaks the true motive behind the rule.
“The real reason is that people who are in power want to stay in power, and they want to keep other people off the ballot,” Jurczynski said.
Daniel Kamerling, Funk’s campaign manager, said he hopes Funk can stand up and raise awareness of this issue through his campaign.
“It’s strange that a given individual isn’t treated equally across the board,” Kamerling said. “In terms of free speech and in terms of the democratic process, it feels a bit unfair.”
Christina Tobin, founder and board chairman of the Free and Equal Elections Foundation, said she thinks the difference in signature requirements for candidates is an example of how the political system in Illinois is rigged in favor of major party candidates.
“These ballot access laws are pretty much the protect-the-incumbent laws,” Tobin said. “It’s unfair, it’s unethical and it’s not right.”
For the Libertarian Party to become qualified in Illinois, a Libertarian gubernatorial candidate must garner at least 5 percent of the vote in the most recent gubernatorial election.
Funk is still gathering signatures in preparation for the election in November.
The original version of this story quoted Richard Winger in such a way that it seemed he was defending the 1971 Supreme Court decision; however, he was only identifying the Supreme Court’s rationale. The story has been edited to fix this. The Daily regrets this error.
