Ballot access court win could be big news for Illinois Libertarian Party and other third parties

From Ballot Access News article, “Illinois Newspaper Editorial Says Libertarian Party Win Against Full-Slate Law May be Just the Beginning of Ballot Access Improvements in Illinois”:

The Rock Island Argus, a daily newspaper in Illinois, editorializes here that the recent federal court decision invalidating one Illinois ballot access restriction may be just the beginning of improvements in that state’s ballot access laws.

Illinois badly needs ballot access reform. It is one of only eleven states that has no procedure for a group to become a qualified party in advance of any particular election. Its candidate petitions for district office, for both independents and the nominees of unqualified parties, are the second highest in the nation, after Georgia. Illinois is the only populous state in which it is common for half the legislative races to have only one candidate on the November ballot.

From the Illinois paper Quad-Cities Online:

The ruling initially could mean that more names and parties will appear on county ballots in November, plaintiffs’ attorney David Schoen says. The hope, however, is that the full-slate ruling will have a broader and deeper impact since Judge Wood appeared to be taking a stand against a nationwide tendency of established parties to erect barriers against small ones.

“I think (her ruling) is clearly intended to send a message that these are fundamentally important rights,”  the Associated Press quoted him as saying. “The little guys should not always get shut out by the Democrats and Republicans.” Yet, nowhere in our constitutions, state or federal, is politics limited to Democrats or Republicans. Nor is that what government is supposed to be about.

Find more at the Illinois Libertarian Party website.