Our view: Candidates should include an email address in their statement of candidacy

Last year, state Rep. Anna Moeller drafted a short bill that would provide for the inclusion of an email address for every person running for office in Illinois on their statement of candidacy.

That effort gained some support from suburban lawmakers but fell far from a vote. It languished in rules committee, where so many good bills go to die.

This is a small thing; not much to ask.

Candidates for office must come up with a minimum number of verifiable signatures from people on their nominating petitions. They must answer questions precisely. They must number pages, dot their i's, cross their t's. There are rules about staples and paper clips. It's a bit of an antiquated process, but it's how election law evolved.

Adding a line for an email address for the candidate wouldn't seem like such a big deal.

But this is politics, and there are those whose could find fault with just about anyone's nominating papers to jettison them from a ballot spot. It's an ugly political sport. The more rules there are, the more opportunities there are to get tripped up.

Moeller's bill was explicit that failing to include an email address or making a clerical error in an email address could not result in a candidate's paperwork being challenged. Most of the language in the short bill addressed that point.

Moeller said she plans to refile that bill, being even more specific about how this would not be mandatory and that it could not be weaponized.

Now Barbara Laimans, who works with the League of Women Voters in Wheaton, wants to take it a step further. The League's mission in many ways is similar to ours: to provide the voting public with greater access to candidates, to do more interviews, to let voters know candidates' positions on issues.

Having ready access to candidate emails ensures we can send out questionnaires. It saves us a lot of time and effort in tracking them down to give them the chance to participate in the process - time that could be better spent covering these races. And it helps ensure that we don't miss anybody, that all candidates are included in the process.

Laimans is seeking support from Sens. Seth Lewis, a Bartlett Republican, and Karen Villa, a West Chicago Democrat, to make the inclusion of an email address a requirement.

The state board of elections recently included a line for an email address and website on its data entry sheet for candidates, but that's an internal document for the state board and not something for public consumption.

While having an email address required of candidates, as Laimans suggests, would be the best for ensuring the public has access to all candidates - some of whom do not welcome the scrutiny - getting enough legislators to agree to it could prove challenging.

"I think it would be tough to pass," Moeller told us. "The Senate had big concerns with my original bill and email details being used to kick someone off the ballot. That's why the new bill is explicit about it not being a factor that can undermine a candidacy."