Stone v. Bd. of Election Commissioners for the City of Chicago

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Elections
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 13-2733
Decision Date: 
April 25, 2014
Federal District: 
N.D. Ill., E. Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed
Dist. Ct. did not err in dismissing for failure to state valid cause of action plaintiffs' action alleging that Chicago’s ballot access scheme for Mayor, that requires candidates to obtain 25,000 signatures within 90-day period with no signatures appearing on other candidates’ petitions, violates rights guaranteed by 1st and 14th Amendments. Reasonably diligent candidate could be expected to meet all requirements of instant scheme within 90-day time frame, and fact that nine mayoral candidates met said requirements belied plaintiffs’ claim that said requirements were overly onerous and restrictive. Moreover, Ct. noted that schemes with relatively higher/more restrictive requirements had been found to be constitutional, and that instant requirements served important goal of blocking frivolous candidates from ballot.