Quinn uses executive powers to try to open primary voting

Gov. Pat Quinn Tuesday used special executive veto power to try to change Illinois primary voting methods.

Under rewritten election legislation, voters would be able to cast primary ballots without declaring a political party - Republican, Democrat or Green - first.

Instead, they would receive ballots for each respective party and privately decide which to use.

Quinn, a longtime supporter of the so-called "open primary" system, said the change would "protect the privacy of voters' party preference and encourage greater participation in primary elections."

Local government reform groups praised the idea but noted it might not hold up.

Pat Collins, a Chicago attorney who chaired the Illinois Reform Commission, said he was in support of any effort to make the voting process more attractive. The commission he headed was created by Quinn in January 2009 in the wake of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's arrest, in order to examine government ethics and make recommendations for cleanup.

"There are a lot of folks who told me they didn't vote just because they didn't want their voter preferences to be known and publicly available," he said.

However, in addition to simply allowing voters to choose between ballots privately, Collins advocated for taking the measure a step further to allow selection of candidates running in more than one party primary.

"If there's a good candidate for high office from one party, and from another, I shouldn't have to choose," he said.

Cynthia Canary, executive director for the Chicago-based Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said she had serious doubt about the change's ability to "stand constitutional muster."

Quinn used his special executive power, called an amendatory veto, to add a passage about the open primary into a piece of election legislation creating an Internet voters guide before primary elections.

"Here he made a couple changes to the voters' guide (legislation), and dropped in a new paragraph on the open primary. It's been argued quite a bit that a governor can make some changes using the amendatory veto power, but the common belief is that he can't simply add sections that don't relate," she said.

Canary called the open primary system "a good idea, but my guess is we're not going to see it become law this way. ... Hopefully it will throw this issue into the dialogue."

According to Illinois law, the change would become permanent if it is approved by a simple majority vote in both houses. The legislation can be overridden by a three-fifths vote, and would die if no action is taken.

Rikeesha Phelon, a spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, said the General Assembly would conduct a compliance analysis to determine if the governor's actions altered the purpose of the original legislation.

That analysis, as well as any formal legislative action, will start in the House, where Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat and chair of the Illinois Democratic Party, will have a major role.

A Madigan spokesman also said lawmakers would review the changes.

The legislature could decide to override Quinn's rewriting of the law and revert to the original legislation.