The Supreme Court of the United States has shot down a request by Sen. Roland Burris to put a stop to the special election that will happen November 2 in conjunction with the general election happening that same day. [Confused? Refresh your memory here.] Burris wanted inclusion in the special election since he's the current Senator; he is not, however, running in the general election. This all means that Roland will cease to be our Senator by Thanksgiving meaning we can bid adieu to The Lord's Senator™. more ›

And here we thought everything was all wrapped up in a nice, neat little package for that chaotic vote for U.S. Senate in this November's general election. To review: a high court ruled that Sen. Burris should never have been appointed in the first place but rather that position - vacated by Barack Obama when he won the 2008 Presidential election - should have been filled by special election. So that's what we'll have ... two years late. You'll vote twice for Senator on November 2: once for a temporary senator who will serve until the new Congress is sworn in in January and once for, well, the permanent senator. So it's very likely that Mark Kirk or Alexi Giannoulias will become senator on November 3. Unless something crazy happens and they split the vote. Point is, poor ol' Roland was left off the ballot altogether meaning he'd be done as senator come Election Day. But Roland - who chose not to run - is none too pleased about this and is now appealing to the Supreme Court to let him serve those remaining weeks between Election Day and the new Congress. more ›

Everything is set for a confusing Senatorial election on November 2. Two years after then-governor Blagojevich eschewed the need for a special election and appointed Roland Burris to the "fuckin' golden" seat, the people of Illinois will finally get a chance to properly select the replacement for Barack Obama. Yesterday U.S. District Judge John Grady ruled that the candidates in the general election for the U.S. Senate seat will also be the candidates for the special election and current Sen. Roland Burris will not be allowed on the ballot for the special election. Whoever wins the special election will serve as Senator until January 3, 2011 when the winner of the general election will be sworn in. Judge Grady said the State Board of Elections must have a winner in the special election certified no later than November 24 though it could be done prior to that date, meaning we'll be bidding Burris adieu by Thanksgiving. more ›

Get ready for a confusing Election Day here in Illinois. Gov. Quinn gave the O.K. to a special election for the U.S. Senate seat that's been the subject of much consternation for almost two years and could be one of the reasons a former governor gets thrown behind bars. Voters will cast two ballots on November 2: one to elect a temporary Senator who will be in place until January 2011 when the officially elected Senator takes over. more ›

Sure, Alexi Giannoulias and Mark Kirk are duking it out for that Senate seat, but might another person take the seat before them, ousting Roland Burris early? That seems a possibility based on a recent decision by a federal judge. Garrett Epps takes a closer look at the 17th Amendment over at The Atlantic and explores how the Blago/Burris appointment fits into the scheme of things. more ›

In an about-face from his recent calls for Senator Burris to resign and for a special election to be held to fill the U.S. Senate seat, Governor Quinn today backed off of Burris and said the focus of Illinois should instead be on things like the economy. Said Quinn: more ›

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan issued a legal opinion late Wednesday night that says it would be legal for lawmakers to move up the date of the Senate election to choose a replacement for President Barack Obama. The opinion paves the way, at least in theory, for the state legislature to force Burris to run as a candidate in a special election if he wants to retain the seat he was appointed to by former Governor Rod Blagojevich. more ›

Yesterday, we mentioned a potential snag in the set election dates for the primary and special elections to elect the new U.S. congressman for the fifth congressional district. We talked with James P. Allen, Communications Director of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. Here's how he explained it:

This litigation is standard procedure with special elections. The same court action was filed last year to obtain a virtually identical court order for the 14th Congressional District special primary and special election to fill the vacancy after the resignation of U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert.The reason is that the overall calendar in the election code on various items (candidate petition circulation, petition filing, objections, grace period, early voting, mail-in absentees, canvassing the results) is for a primary and general election that span many months, not several weeks. Thus, a court order sets the ground rules for all of the candidates up front. Additionally, such a court order would have been necessary no matter how the writ of election were issued, because the law requires both the primary and special election to be completed inside a compressed schedule of 115 days.

It seems there's a bit of a trouble with the scheduled dates of the special elections called to fill Rahm Emanuel's vacated seat in U.S. Congress. Cook County Clerk David Orr's office is required to allow 45 days between primary and election dates to allow absentee voters - including those in the military - to return their ballots. There are, however, only 35 days between the scheduled March 3 primary and April 7 election. Orr will go before a federal judge tomorrow and ask that his office be allowed to use ballots via fax and email in addition to regular mail so that the current dates, set by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, can stand. more ›

Ladies and gentlemen, start your campaign engines. Now that Rahm Emanuel has officially resigned his Fifth U.S. Congressional District seat, it's time to pick a new representative. Beleaguered Governor Rod Blagojevich has set March 3 as the date of the primary election and April 7 as the general election. Given all the interest expressed in the seat, we put the over/under on the final number of candidates at lucky 13. Because it is, after all, the seat once occupied by Blago. [Trib] more ›

Rahm Emanuel will be resigning his 5th U.S. Congressional District seat this Friday, January 2nd. Emanuel informed his constituents (including a few of us) of the decision via a recorded phone message. Seriously, for the first five seconds, I thought Rahm was actually returning one of my numerous phone calls; not cool! Anyway. Lynn Sweet has a list of those who have already expressed an interest in pursuing the seat and it's pretty long already: Alexander Victor Forys, Mike Quigley, Charles J. Wheelan, Sara Feigenholtz, Reichel Matthew, Joey Vartanian, Israel Vasquez, Justin Oberman, Cary Capparelli, Debra Mell, and Jan H. Donatelli. Meanwhile, Emanuel's Chicago and D.C. offices will remain open as to allow any current casework to be completed. A special election will now be scheduled to select Rahm's replacement. more ›