Quinn set to sign bill moving primary back to March

Gov. Pat Quinn’s approval is all that’s needed to end the short-lived experiment of having Illinois primaries in early February.

The House voted 114-1 Thursday for Senate Bill 355, which would move the primary election date to the third Tuesday in March – where it was held since the 1970s. The Senate has already approved the idea, so now it goes to Quinn.

Quinn spokeswoman Annie Thompson said the governor supports the idea and looks forward to signing it.

Lawmakers approved moving the primary to the first Tuesday in February in 2007 so Illinois would have more say in the presidential primary election, which helped President Barack Obama. But low turnout last month soured officials on the idea.

Some lawmakers questioned Thursday why the election was not moved to an even later date.

“Did you give any thought of moving the primary later, say past the first of June when the public would actually be able to react the actions of their representatives, the candidates running for House and Senate, after the entire legislative session?” said Rep. Dave Winters, R-Shirland.

County clerks expressed concerns with finding election judges and securing polling places in schools, which may be closed for summer, supporters said.

“There was a lot of concern among election authorities about moving it to summer,” said Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrook, who sponsored the bill.

Others agreed that moving back the primary even a little is an improvement.

“Anything other than a February primary is better than what we just went through,” said Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville.

A hope of a later primary is that voter turnout will improve.

“Giving the people of Illinois a little bit longer to consider their candidates, giving them the ability to come out on a what will hopefully be a warmer day will help increase the people who will come out vote,” said Rep. Harry Osterman, D-Chicago.

Matt Hopf can be reached at 217-782-3095 or Matt.hopf@sj-r.com.

Read the original article from the Galesburg Register-Mail.