EDITORIAL: The Illinois primary is a sham

The local primaries in Montgomery County are an even bigger sham

March 19, 2024 32

I initially had it all planned to have this published yesterday, but a Letter to the Editor sent to local (Montgomery County, Illinois) newspapers two weeks ago was never published. So I am publishing it here.

This week, Montgomery County voters and the people of Illinois will vote in the primary to determine who will be on the ballot in November. However, the people of this fine county should know that Republicans have intentionally censored the ballot by not allowing the Libertarian Party to hold its own primary on Tuesday.

For those who may not recall, almost 5.3 percent of voters in the county voted for the Libertarian candidate for Attorney General, Daniel Robin, with nearly half of the county’s precincts attaining 5% or better for Robin. This included your county seat of Hillsboro, where the average support for Robin was 11.5 percent.

Last September, when I was planning the slate for the primary, the Libertarian Party of Illinois and the ChrisMont Libertarian Central Committee requested the signature figures for not only countywide but county board and precinct committeepersons as well.

However, County Clerk Sandy Leitheiser decided to defer her electoral duties to State’s Attorney Andrew Affrunti, who referenced a provision of the Illinois Election Code that was stricken down in 2016 as a part of a federal court order in Libertarian Party of Illinois v. Illinois State Board of Elections, which also saw the full-slate requirement stricken down on constitutional grounds.

The fact that Affrunti interfered with the Libertarian Party’s right to hold a primary that it earned while his office is up for election in 2024 was and still is a conflict of interest and should end his permanent disbarring from the Illinois State Bar Association.

The Montgomery County GOP Central Committee has made it apparent that they don’t want you to have a choice for ANY elected office within its confines in 2024. Not for Circuit Clerk, not for Coroner, not even for State’s Attorney. Definitely not for County Board.

The Libertarian Party would have had to collect at least 10 signatures (maximum of 60) to make it on the ballot for any of the three countywide races, between 5 and 9 signatures for county board (depending on the district), and ten signatures for precinct committeeperson.

Now, due to their censoring of the ballot, Montgomery County’s third major political party is treated like a red-headed stepchild by being forced to collect nearly 700 signatures (for countywide) and 75 to 125 signatures (for county board) to get on the ballot in November.

Montgomery County voters were denied an opportunity to pull a Libertarian primary ticket on Tuesday, but this isn’t the first time they’ve censored your choices on the ballot. In 2014, after Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Chad Grimm received nearly 8 percent of the countywide vote against Bruce Rauner and Pat Quinn in 2012, you were denied a choice.

While Republicans censored the ballot on Tuesday, they will not get away with it in November. The speed bump they laid out against my run for Circuit Clerk against Daniel Robbins will continue regardless because the people of Montgomery County deserve better than an uncontested political race.

Jake Leonard

Website | + posts

Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.