Bill Text: IL SB2206 | 2011-2012 | 97th General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: Amends the Election Code. Provides that a vacancy in nomination may be filled by resolution if no candidate's name was printed on the primary ballot and no person is nominated as a write-in candidate. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Failed) 2013-01-08 - Session Sine Die [SB2206 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2011-SB2206-Introduced.html

---

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2011 and 2012 SB2206 Introduced 2/15/2011, by Sen. James F. Clayborne, Jr. SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
10 ILCS 5/7-61 from Ch. 46, par. 7-61
Amends the Election Code. Provides that a vacancy in nomination may be filled by resolution if no candidate's name was printed on the primary ballot and no person is nominated as a write-in candidate. Effective immediately.
LRB097 10375 HLH 50589 b
A BILL FOR
SB2206 LRB097 10375 HLH 50589 b
AN ACT concerning elections.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Election Code is amended by changing Section
7-61 as follows:
(10 ILCS 5/7-61) (from Ch. 46, par. 7-61)
Sec. 7-61. Whenever a special election is necessary the
provisions of this Article are applicable to the nomination of
candidates to be voted for at such special election.
In cases where a primary election is required the officer
or board or commission whose duty it is under the provisions of
this Act relating to general elections to call an election,
shall fix a date for the primary for the nomination of
candidates to be voted for at such special election. Notice of
such primary shall be given at least 15 days prior to the
maximum time provided for the filing of petitions for such a
primary as provided in Section 7-12.
Any vacancy in nomination under the provisions of this
Article 7 occurring on or after the primary and prior to
certification of candidates by the certifying board or officer,
must be filled prior to the date of certification. Any vacancy
in nomination occurring after certification but prior to 15
days before the general election shall be filled within 8 days

SB2206 - 2 - LRB097 10375 HLH 50589 b
after the event creating the vacancy. The resolution filling
the vacancy shall be sent by U. S. mail or personal delivery to
the certifying officer or board within 3 days of the action by
which the vacancy was filled; provided, if such resolution is
sent by mail and the U. S. postmark on the envelope containing
such resolution is dated prior to the expiration of such 3 day
limit, the resolution shall be deemed filed within such 3 day
limit. Failure to so transmit the resolution within the time
specified in this Section shall authorize the certifying
officer or board to certify the original candidate. Vacancies
shall be filled by the officers of a local municipal or
township political party as specified in subsection (h) of
Section 7-8, other than a statewide political party, that is
established only within a municipality or township and the
managing committee (or legislative committee in case of a
candidate for State Senator or representative committee in the
case of a candidate for State Representative in the General
Assembly or State central committee in the case of a candidate
for statewide office, including but not limited to the office
of United States Senator) of the respective political party for
the territorial area in which such vacancy occurs.
The resolution to fill a vacancy in nomination shall be
duly acknowledged before an officer qualified to take
acknowledgements of deeds and shall include, upon its face, the
following information:
(a) the name of the original nominee and the office

SB2206 - 3 - LRB097 10375 HLH 50589 b
vacated;
(b) the date on which the vacancy occurred;
(c) the name and address of the nominee selected to fill
the vacancy and the date of selection.
The resolution to fill a vacancy in nomination shall be
accompanied by a Statement of Candidacy, as prescribed in
Section 7-10, completed by the selected nominee and a receipt
indicating that such nominee has filed a statement of economic
interests as required by the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act.
The provisions of Section 10-8 through 10-10.1 relating to
objections to certificates of nomination and nomination
papers, hearings on objections, and judicial review, shall
apply to and govern objections to resolutions for filling a
vacancy in nomination.
Any vacancy in nomination occurring 15 days or less before
the consolidated election or the general election shall not be
filled. In this event, the certification of the original
candidate shall stand and his name shall appear on the official
ballot to be voted at the general election.
A vacancy in nomination occurs when a candidate who has
been nominated under the provisions of this Article 7 dies
before the election (whether death occurs prior to, on or after
the day of the primary), or declines the nomination; provided
that nominations may become vacant for other reasons.
If the name of no established political party candidate was
printed on the consolidated primary ballot for a particular

SB2206 - 4 - LRB097 10375 HLH 50589 b
office and if no person was nominated as a write-in candidate
for such office, a vacancy in nomination shall be created which
may be filled by resolution in accordance with the above
requirements of this Section. If the name of no established
political party candidate was printed on the general primary
ballot for a particular office and if no person was nominated
as a write-in candidate for such office, a vacancy in
nomination shall be filled only by a person designated by the
appropriate committee of the political party and only if that
designated person files nominating petitions with the number of
signatures required for an established party candidate for that
office within 75 days after the day of the general primary;
provided that a resolution designating such a person must be
filed in accordance with the above requirements of this
Section. The circulation period for those petitions begins on
the day the appropriate committee designates that person by
resolution. In addition to the initial filing of a resolution,
the designated . The person shall thereafter file his or her
nominating petitions, statements of candidacy, notice of
appointment by the appropriate committee, and receipt of filing
his or her statement of economic interests together. These
documents shall be filed at the same location as provided in
Section 7-12. The electoral boards having jurisdiction under
Section 10-9 to hear and pass upon objections to nominating
petitions also shall hear and pass upon objections to
resolutions and nomination petitions filed by candidates under

SB2206 - 5 - LRB097 10375 HLH 50589 b
this paragraph.
A candidate for whom a nomination paper has been filed as a
partisan candidate at a primary election, and who is defeated
for his or her nomination at such primary election, is
ineligible to be listed on the ballot at that general or
consolidated election as a candidate of another political
party.
A candidate seeking election to an office for which
candidates of political parties are nominated by caucus who is
a participant in the caucus and who is defeated for his or her
nomination at such caucus, is ineligible to be listed on the
ballot at that general or consolidated election as a candidate
of another political party.
In the proceedings to nominate a candidate to fill a
vacancy or to fill a vacancy in the nomination, each precinct,
township, ward, county or congressional district, as the case
may be, shall through its representative on such central or
managing committee, be entitled to one vote for each ballot
voted in such precinct, township, ward, county or congressional
district, as the case may be, by the primary electors of its
party at the primary election immediately preceding the meeting
at which such vacancy is to be filled.
For purposes of this Section, the words "certify" and
"certification" shall refer to the act of officially declaring
the names of candidates entitled to be printed upon the
official ballot at an election and directing election

SB2206 - 6 - LRB097 10375 HLH 50589 b
authorities to place the names of such candidates upon the
official ballot. "Certifying officers or board" shall refer to
the local election official, election authority or the State
Board of Elections, as the case may be, with whom nomination
papers, including certificates of nomination and resolutions
to fill vacancies in nomination, are filed and whose duty it is
to "certify" candidates.
(Source: P.A. 96-809, eff. 1-1-10; 96-848, eff. 1-1-10.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.