Bill Redpath
From Ballot Access News on September 15, 2020:
On September 11, Bill Redpath, Libertarian Party nominee for U.S. House, Illinois Sixth District, won his ballot access lawsuit in state trial court. Bixler v Illinois State Board of Elections, Sangamon Co., 20 MR 775.
The Illinois Board of Elections had determined that Redpath had enough valid signatures. Persons associated with the Republican Party then sued the State Board, arguing that he should be removed from the ballot. The basis for the challenge was that the some of his signers had already voted in the March 2020 primary. The challengers showed that if the primary voters were excluded, then Redpath didn’t have enough valid signatures.
There is no Illinois law saying that primary voters can’t sign for an independent candidate, or the nominee of an unqualified party. There was once a law barring primary voters from signing for an independent candidate, but it had been repealed in 1975. Nevertheless, the objectors claimed that it is intrinsically true that a primary voter can’t sign a general election petition, because that is equivalent to “voting twice.”
Here is the 3-page court order. It does not discuss the theory set forth by the objectors. It just says the decision to put Redpath on the ballot is in accord with the law.
Bill is a former two-term chair of the Libertarian National Committee. This is his seventh campaign running as a Libertarian Party candidate.
Bill Redpath’s campaign website: BillRedpath.com
