By Ashley Badgley

Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — The push to move Illinois’ primary election back to the original date in March has cleared both legislative chambers and is waiting Gov. Pat Quinn’s signature.

State primary elections in Illinois used to take place on the third Tuesday in March. Legislators changed the date to early February just before President Barack Obama was in the running for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Many lawmakers hoped an early primary would help Illinois push Obama ahead in the election. However, now lawmakers think a primary in the first week of February is too early and resulted last month in one of the lowest voter turnouts in Illinois history.

The House on Thursday approved the proposal on a 114-1 vote.

State Sen. Deanna Demuzio, D- Carlinville, sponsored the legislation and said she is happy the bill passed both houses.

“[The] traditional date will play a big role,” Demuzio said. “We’ve had the March primary forever, up until the time we moved it back to accommodate an earlier primary and we all know why that was.”

State Rep. Jim Watson, R-Jacksonville, said he favors the legislation but would have liked to see the date pushed back even further than March. He said the time period between primaries and elections is expensive and time-consuming. Lawmakers should be focused on solving key issues – such as the budget — during the legislative session, and hold off on campaigning until the major issues are near a solution.

“The longer we have to run, the longer the primary period [and] the more difficult and expensive the campaign is going to be,” Watson said. “Sometimes things lose focus. Instead of concentrating on what really matters like getting the budget fixed, we end up getting off on tangents.”

State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-Moline, said he hopes this bill’s passage marks the beginning of more campaign legislation for Illinois.

Jacobs said he hopes to sponsor some future bills that would lengthen the terms of lawmakers in both chambers in the General Assembly. State representatives currently run for re-election every two years, while state senators run for staggered terms of two and four years.

Rep. Mike Boland, D-East Moline cast the only dissenting vote. He said a March primary is just “one iota” better than a February primary. He said he would like to see the primary pushed to April or later.

Quinn said he is in support of moving the primary back to the original date in March because Illinois has “harsh winters,” and turnout will be much better in March.

“I thought the primary was way too early this year,” Quinn said. “We live in a pretty tough climate in the winter in Illinois. Feb. 2 is way too early and I was happy to see the legislature address this issue.”

Quinn said he will sign the bill as soon as he sees it.

“I haven’t gotten the bill yet, but I’m definitely for moving the primary back in the future,” Quinn said. “It will be a better turnout and I think it will be a better campaign for the people.”