Moore v. Ogilvie

Background

Independent candidates seeking to be presidential electors from Illinois filed petitions with 26,500 qualified voters’ names asking to be placed on the 1968 ballot. State election officials refused to certify them under an Illinois law that required at least 25,000 signatures and, in addition, at least 200 signatures from each of 50 counties. A federal district court dismissed the challenge relying on an earlier case, and the dispute was appealed to this Court.

Reasoning

The core question was whether Illinois’ rigid geographic signature requirement treated voters unequally. The Court compared this rule to its recent “one person, one vote” decisions and concluded that the law arbitrarily favored residents of sparsely populated counties over residents of populous counties. Because nominating petitions are an integral part of the election process, the Court held the statute violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal treatment for voters. The Court overruled the earlier case that had upheld the rule and reversed the lower court.

Real world impact

The ruling removes a specific statewide obstacle that had prevented candidates supported mainly in populous counties from qualifying for the ballot. Independent hopefuls and new parties in Illinois will no longer be subject to that particular 50-county signature formula. The decision also limits states’ ability to enforce similarly rigid geographic signature rules for statewide ballot access in future elections.

Dissents or concurrances

A dissent argued the case was moot because the 1968 election was over and that the challengers had not shown concrete voter injury. The dissent also defended the older decision and said the signature burden was not proven to be unreasonable.