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Tri States Public Radio and NPR News will provide you with updated stories from all of our local and national elections between now and November. The NPR News element below will be updated constantly, and will sometimes provide live coverage and audio from important events leading up to the November elections. You can find all of our local coverage after the jump.Election 2012 News From NPR

Green Party Candidates Won't Appear On Ballot

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Credit wikimedia

  Candidates from the Illinois Green Party will not appear on the November ballot.

A federal judge Thursday denied the party reprieve from the state's election requirements for third parties.

The Green Party had sued, claiming the barriers for third parties are too onerous ... threatening the right to free speech and equal protection.

Scott Summers, the party's candidate for governor, says he's disappointed with the judge's ruling.

"We are very unfortunate in this country to have a two-party system, as far as I'm concerned," he said. "We all are hardwired for that as children, but it strangles democracy."

Illinois law requires third party slates collect five times as many voter signatures as Republicans and Democrats need to qualify to run for office.

Summers says the Greens did turn in more than the minimum five thousand required. But a challenge from Democrats put nearly half of the signatures in doubt.

Rather than fight over the signatures with elections authorities, the Green Party sued.

But a federal judge says the Green Party should have filed its lawsuit earlier in the election cycle, which would have given them more options for getting on the ballot.

Copyright 2014 NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS

Hannah covers state government and politics for NPR Illinois and Illinois Public Radio. She previously covered the statehouse for The Daily Line and Law360, and also worked a temporary stint at the political blog Capitol Fax in 2018.