This database consolidates and tracks litigation concerning the effect of the pandemic on election law. The purpose of this tool is to provide an interactive list of relevant cases that can be searched by issue, court, status, and jurisdiction.
Case Details
Libertarian Party of Illinois v. Pritzker
Active
Libertarian Party of Illinois v. Pritzker, No. 1:20-cv-02112 (N.D. Ill.), 2020 WL 1951687 |
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| Case Summary | The Libertarian Party of Illinois, a political party sought injunctive relief against the Illinois State Board of Elections ("Board") requiring the Board to waive the Illinois petitioning requirements, including the number of signatures required and the requirement that the signatures be notarized and be wet signatures, in order to allow their candidates to be included on the ballot. The complaint alleged that requiring the collection of in-person signatures to authorize ballot referenda during the COVID-19 public health emergency violated the plaintiffs' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.The District Court implemented a preliminary injunction based on the Parties' agreed order, which allowed for previously-qualifying new parties and independent candidates to have ballot access, reduced the number of signatures required to 10% and allowed for electronic collection and submission. The Board then petitioned for a stay on the order, which was denied by the Court of Appeals because the Board failed to show that it would be irreparably harmed by the relief it had previously agreed to. | |
| Filed | 04/02/2020 | |
| State | Illinois | |
| Type of Court | Federal | |
| Circuit | Seventh Circuit | |
| Status | Active | |
| Last Updated | 03/13/2021 | |
| Issue Tag(s) | Petition Signature Requirement (Threshold Number, Deadline/Time to Collect, E-signatures) | |
| Complaint(s) | 04/02/2020: Complaint filed. | |
| 04/16/2020: Complaint, Amended Complaint filed. | ||
| 07/02/2020: Complaint, Intervenor Complaint filed. | ||
| Dispositive Ruling(s) | 04/23/2020: Order/Ruling, PI Granted in Part | |
Libertarian Party of Ill. v. Pritzker, No. 20-1961 (7th Cir.), 2020 WL 3421662 |
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| Case Summary | The Libertarian Party of Illinois, a political party, sought injunctive relief against the Illinois State Board of Elections ("Board") requiring the Board to waive the Illinois petitioning requirements, including the number of signatures required and the requirement that the signatures be notarized and be wet signatures, in order to allow their candidates to be included on the ballot. The complaint alleged that requiring the collection of in-person signatures to authorize ballot referenda during the COVID-19 public health emergency violated the plaintiffs' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The District Court implemented a preliminary injunction based on the Parties' agreed order, which allowed for previously-qualifying new parties and independent candidates to have ballot access, reduced the number of signatures required to 10% and allowed for electronic collection and submission. The Board then petitioned for a stay on the order, which was denied by the Court of Appeals because the Board failed to show that it would be irreparably harmed by the relief it had previously agreed to. | |
| Filed | 06/08/2020 | |
| State | Illinois | |
| Type of Court | Federal | |
| Circuit | Seventh Circuit | |
| Status | Active | |
| Last Updated | 08/08/2021 | |
| Issue Tag(s) | Petition Signature Requirement (Threshold Number, Deadline/Time to Collect, E-signatures) | |
| Dispositive Ruling(s) | 06/21/2020: Order/Ruling, Order Denying Motion to Stay District Court's Preliminary Injunction | |
| 08/20/2020: Order/Ruling, The Court of Appeals upheld the District Court's preliminary injunction, determining that the District Court's legal and factual findings were appropriate especially considering the two parties conferred to create a draft order which the court implemented. | ||
