The returns from Florida last night caused me to contemplate the significance of the upcoming Illinois primary February 5. . Although there seem to be some spirited primary fights on the Democratic ballot, other than force of habit what would possess many conservative voters to request Republican ballots when they arrive at their precinct polling places? For many voters, the primary has been reduced to nothing more than a beauty contest.

In the race for the presidential nomination, Senator John McCain (R-Az) has seized the momentum and may be nearly unstoppable. Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney remain in the field, but they are trailing McCain. Both men may be campaigning for the silver medal, the vice president nomination at this point.

Unless you reside in an outlying suburban legislative district, there may not be a candidate for the Illinois senate or house on your ballot. The current Cook county Republican Chairman, Elizabeth Doody Gorman, did not even bother to file a slate of candidates for county offices up for election this year but one. That means no candidates listed for recorder of deeds or board of review. County Commissioner Tony Peraica is unopposed for state’s attorney after his objection to an opponent’s nominating petition succeeded in removing that individual recruited by Gorman from the ballot. There are no Republican judicial candidates on most ballots. There are a few sub-circuit judicial races, but those are confined to the far suburbs.

At this juncture, the most that can be done is for the various Republican township and ward committeemen to recruit candidates and attempt to fill the vacancies in nomination for various state and county offices. The winners of the Democratic judicial races will have smooth sailing as they coast home to election in November. Judicial vacancies cannot be filled by the committeemen for the general election. In the past, it has not been uncommon for the state supreme court to appoint uncontested judicial candidates to begin their new assignments immediately rather than waiting for the inevitable results of the November election.

If you study the Republican sample ballot, in race after race the entry simply reads “No Candidate.” The only names to be found on the ballot are those of McCain, Romney and Huckabee, plus their delegates and alternates as well as the presidential candidates who have quit the race, Giuliani, Tancredo and Thompson with their delegates and alternates. There is a contest for the U.S. Senate nomination and an occasional vanity contest for Republican ward committeeman in a few places within Chicago, but that is about it.

What is a conservative voter to do? The most likely scenario seems to be requesting a Democratic ballot and choosing the least objectionable candidates or engaging in some creative mischief. This type of activity has occurred before. In 1986, former US Senator Adlai Stevenson was seeking to make a second run for governor was shocked to find to extremist followers of Lyndon LaRouche—Mark Fairchild and Janice Hart—had upset his intended running mates, George Sangmeister and Aurelia Pucinski, in the Democratic primary. The Democratic statewide ticket imploded and the Illinois Solidarity Party was launched as a means for Stevenson to divorce himself from the LaRouchies who promised to drive tanks down State Street and cautioned voters that anyone who failed to take an AIDS test would not be permitted to colonize the planet Mars. Big Jim Thompson cruised to an unprecedented fourth term as governor in the aftermath of the Democratic Primary debacle.

Illinois is supposed to have a closed primary election system of making nominations. As the result of a US Supreme Court decision issued in the `70’s the 23-month restriction on changing party affiliations for primary voting was invalidated as being unduly burdensome. Although the Illinois general assembly could have revised the election code and substituted a less restrictive provision governing voter eligibility to participate in a primary election, it never did so. As matters now stand, any eligible voter may change party affiliation simply by requesting a ballot on primary day.

Thus voters raiding the Democratic primary may impact on the outcome of several key races, most notably for state’s attorney where six candidates are vying for this important post. The Democratic central committee failed to endorse a favorite in this race between Aldermen Thomas Allen, Howard Brookins, assistant state’s attorneys Anita Alvarez and Robert Milan, county commissioner Larry Suffredin and perennial candidate Tommy Brewer.

With hotly contested races for the Presidential nomination, the offices of State’s Attorney, Recorder of Deeds, Board of Review and a host of judicial positions, all of the action appears to be on the Democratic ballot next Tuesday. Unless Republican voters reside Downstate or in one of the outlying Cook County suburbs, there does not seem to be much to vote for next week. With few exceptions, requesting a Republican ballot may entail little more than ratifying choices that were made in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.

There seems to be a genuine possibility that many Republicans may not vote at all or may choose to request Democratic ballots on February 5th. Hillary Clinton may be the unintended beneficiary of crossover votes from Republicans who want to prolong the increasing hostile nomination fight between Clinton and Obama or to help nominate a Democratic candidate with high negative ratings to face McCain in November.

The number of Cook County residents participating in the Republican primary may prove to be miniscule. More than a few may be engaged in petty mischief next Tuesday.
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Daniel J. Kelley is an election law attorney and a regular contributor to “The Chicago Daily Observer.”