In Illinois, in 2004, the name of George W. Bush will not, as of now, be allowed on the ballot.State law specifies that the ballot must be certified in August; but the GOP National Convention isn't until September. So, a minor change in the law was required. But instead of simply making the change, the Democratic legislative leadership tacked a provision onto the bill that would allow the State Board of Elections to waive a bunch of election law fines, including a whopping $797,600 judgment against Secretary of State Jesse White, and others against no less than 14 Democratic Senators, none of whom bothered to recuse himself from the vote. Senate Republicans rightly refused to support such a blatantly corrupt measure, so the bill failed, and unless it is revised, Bush's name will not be on the ballot in Illinois; to win the state's electoral votes he will have to run a write-in campaign.
The bill could be brought up again in the spring, but according to Chicago Sun- Times columnist Thomas Roeser, the Democratic leadership is promising "that the same conditions will be applied next year."
Read the whole thing here.
DC
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