Forget Jimmy Stewart, give us Bartleby the Scrivener

Johanna Q. Public may want to serve her community, but there are some essential issues that our state lawmakers have decided must be resolved before allowing her to become a candidate for public office.

Can Ms. Public place numbers on each page of a nominating petition?

Does Ms. Public show unfailing party loyalty, never supporting a person from another party regardless of their qualifications and character?

Is her petition for candidacy perfect, with no correcting fluid used to undo mistakes?

Are any of her crossed-out nominating signatures initialed?

Illinois is famous for throwing good people off the ballot for hyper-technical paperwork flaws that have nothing to do with whether voters should have a chance to accept or reject them. The laws are built for protecting incumbents and the status quo’s power, not for ensuring fair elections.

Contrast these grave election concerns with the laissez-faire attitude regarding candidate residency. Apartments, boarding houses and post office boxes are common for elected leaders in impoverished communities who actually live and send their kids to schools in wealthy bedroom communities.

Or look at laws that allow judges to resign and run for re-election instead of seeking the intended 60-percent voter approval for retention to another judicial term.

Ms. Public may be a hard-working representative and leader with the people’s best interests a heart, but all we care about in Illinois is her showing us that she’d make a heck of a file clerk.

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Forget Jimmy Stewart, give us Bartleby the Scrivener."