Tripp v. Scholz

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-Election Bd.’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiffs’ (Green Party state representative candidates) action alleging that Illinois Election Code’s requirements that plaintiffs obtain petition signatures from at least 5 percent of number of voters who voted in previous regular election for said office, that said petition signatures be gathered within 90 days preceding last day for filing petition for nomination, and that each petition sheet contain notarized statement attesting to genuine nature of signatures violated plaintiffs’ 1^st and 14^th Amendment rights. Five percent signature requirement did not violate 1^st or 14^th Amendment since reasonably diligent candidate could be expected to meet said requirement, especially where prior Green Party candidates had met such requirement. Moreover, notary requirement did not violate First Amendment, where: (1) plaintiffs could have satisfied said requirement with as few as 121 petition sheets; (2) there was no issue with respect to access to notaries; and (3) notary requirement served as deterrent to election fraud. Also, 90-day petition window did not violate either 1^st or 14^th Amendments, where each candidate needed to obtain only 27 signatures per day to satisfy said requirement.