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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

Judge Keeps Libertarians on Illinois Ballot

Amanda Vinicky/Illinois Public Radio

A Sangamon County judge's decision means Illinois voters in November will see three names for each office at the top of the ballot.

The Libertarian Party survived a court challenge seeking to knock off its slate of statewide candidates – and the entire process was an uphill battle.

First, third parties in Illinois must collect 25,000 petition signatures -- five times what the Republicans and Democrats need.

Though Libertarians turned in more than that amount, the validity of those signatures was challenged before the Illinois State Board of Elections. 

After the party survived that challenge, a Republican attorney filed suit, alleging the people who circulated the petitions hadn't followed all the rules.

The Libertarian Party's candidate for governor, Chad Grimm, said the GOP was just trying to tie up its opponents and hurt its fundraising, which he said had started off well.

“Then, it became kind of questionable whether we're going to make the ballot or not, and then funds --- people don't want to donate because they're not really sure if what they're donating to is going to be a choice in November,” said Grimm.

He hoped that will no longer be a problem.

But his fundraising has paled compared to the other two candidates. Democratic Governor Pat Quinn and Republican Bruce Rauner have already spent millions and appear poised to spend millions more.