Ald. Jim Gardiner spent nearly three times as much on legal fees during 2023 and 2024 than any other member of the Chicago City Council, according to a WTTW News analysis of records filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

The lower turnout in the November election also followed low turnout in the March primary, which featured uncontested presidential primaries in Illinois after challengers dropped out of the race by the time it was Illinois’ turn to vote.

The documents were available through an unsecured cloud storage platform. They included Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses and voter registration history.

A law banning political parties from waiting until after the primary election to place a state legislative candidate on the general election ballot won’t keep any Republicans from running this November.

A hearing officer is recommending the Illinois State Board of Elections dismiss a complaint that alleged conservative radio host and political operative Dan Proft illegally coordinated with former Republican state Sen. Darren Bailey during his 2022 campaign for governor.

A Sangamon County judge blocked the Illinois State Board of Elections from enforcing a new law that would have prevented certain General Assembly candidates who didn’t run in the March primary from getting on the November ballot. The move doesn’t void the bill in its entirety, but rather blocks it only for this year’s general election for the 14 named plaintiffs in the case.

The measure is part of a broad package of election-related legislation which also includes a provision loosening restrictions on what political parties can do with campaign funds and a state-level response to a controversy in the south suburbs. 

The law put an end to the long-standing Illinois practice of letting a political party slate candidates for the general election in contests that are open because no one from that party ran in the primary election.

The complaint alleges Proft’s independent expenditure committee – the “People Who Play By The Rules PAC” – coordinated with Bailey, violating both state and federal law.

Voter turnout for the March 19 Illinois primary election was 19.07%, the lowest in at least the last 50 years, according to official vote totals certified Friday by state election officials.

Former Ald. Ed Burke paid two law firms, Blegen & Garvey and Breen & Pugh, approximately $769,000 one month after his conviction, according to state records.

A panel of federal judges seemed skeptical of legal arguments made on behalf of Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, who claims Illinois’ law allowing counting of mail-in ballots for two weeks after an election is in violation of federal law.

Some teenagers in Illinois who are too young to vote for this year's primary and general election are already preparing for their first chance to vote in other future elections.

The justices ruled a day before the Super Tuesday primaries that states, without action from Congress first, cannot invoke a post-Civil War constitutional provision to keep presidential candidates from appearing on ballots.

Illinois is now the third state where former President Donald Trump was booted from the ballot, after Colorado and Maine. But those decisions were paused pending the appeal of the Colorado case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The case is based on claims that former President Donald Trump’s actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol amounted to an insurrection, and thus he should be disqualified from holding public office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.