Joseph Berrios, who's both a candidate for Cook County assessor and chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party, has expressed this worry about Forrest Claypool's independent campaign for county assessor: It will create a new party that won't go away.
"We will have an independent party on the ballot from now on, because [it will] get enough votes to become an official party here in Cook County," Berrios told the Sun-Times Editorial Board.
Something like that did happen statewide when Adlai Stevenson helped to create the Solidarity Party in 1986 to avoid running on the same ticket as two Lyndon LaRouche supporters who won Democratic primaries. Stevenson didn't have any use for Solidarity after he lost the election, but the party continued to be officially recognized and others ran as Solidarity candidates in subsequent elections.
But that won't happen in Claypool's case, said Dan White, executive director of the Illinois State Board of Elections. A separate provision governs independent candidates, and doesn't create a new line on the ballot in the next election.
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