---
type: "Bill"
title: "ELECTIONS-PARTY SWITCHING"
description: "Amends the Election Code. Provides that a person who (i) filed a statement of candidacy as an established political party's candidate at a general primary or (ii) voted at an established political party's general primary may not file a statement of candidacy as an independent candidate or as a different party's candidate at the immediately following general election. A person may file a statement of candidacy for a partisan office as a qualified primary voter of an established political party regardless of any prior filing of candidacy for a partisan office or voting the ballot of an established political party at any prior election. Effective immediately."
jurisdiction: "us/states/il"
legislature: "Illinois General Assembly"
session: "97th"
identifier: "HB 2009"
citation: "Illinois HB 2009 (97th)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 32
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2011-02-17"
last_action: "2012-03-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2c815b47-e210-4d8d-98ca-3cd1f3b4b22a"
source_url: "http://ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=2009&GAID=11&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=59211&SessionID=84&GA=97"
source_hash: "ef5be22c70d029e9635ffc7b4af4d908d00b692eaaba1f1846021dd132ff8d56"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-il"]
---

# Illinois HB 2009 (97th) — ELECTIONS-PARTY SWITCHING

Amends the Election Code. Provides that a person who (i) filed a statement of candidacy as an established political party's candidate at a general primary or (ii) voted at an established political party's general primary may not file a statement of candidacy as an independent candidate or as a different party's candidate at the immediately following general election. A person may file a statement of candidacy for a partisan office as a qualified primary voter of an established political party regardless of any prior filing of candidacy for a partisan office or voting the ballot of an established political party at any prior election. Effective immediately.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09700HB2009&GA=97&SessionId=84&DocTypeId=HB&LegID=59211&DocNum=2009&GAID=11&Session=&print=true)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09700HB2009eng&GA=97&SessionId=84&DocTypeId=HB&LegID=59211&DocNum=2009&GAID=11&Session=&print=true)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09700HB2009enr&GA=97&SessionId=84&DocTypeId=HB&LegID=59211&DocNum=2009&GAID=11&Session=&print=true)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **75–38** (pass) · lower
- Motion — **33–19** (fail) · upper
- Third Reading — **53–3** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Mike Fortner — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2011-02-17** Filed with the Clerk by Rep. Mike Fortner `filing`
- **2011-02-17** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2011-02-17** Referred to Rules Committee `referral-committee`
- **2011-02-23** Added Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Sidney H. Mathias
- **2011-02-23** Assigned to Elections & Campaign Reform Committee `referral-committee`
- **2011-03-15** Do Pass / Short Debate Elections & Campaign Reform Committee; 006-000-000 `committee-passage`
- **2011-03-16** Placed on Calendar 2nd Reading - Short Debate
- **2011-03-17** Second Reading - Short Debate `reading-2`
- **2011-03-17** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading - Short Debate
- **2011-03-29** Third Reading - Short Debate - Passed 075-038-001 `reading-3, passage`
- **2011-03-30** Arrive in Senate `introduction`
- **2011-03-30** Placed on Calendar Order of First Reading `reading-1`
- **2011-03-30** Chief Senate Sponsor Sen. Don Harmon
- **2011-03-30** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2011-03-30** Referred to Assignments `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-27** Assigned to Executive `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-05** To Executive Subcommittee on Election Law
- **2011-05-13** Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-27** Re-assigned to Executive `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-27** Motion Filed Sen. Don Harmon; to Waive all Posting Requirements.
- **2012-03-27** Motion Prevailed 033-019-000
- **2012-03-27** Waive Posting Notice
- **2012-03-28** Do Pass Executive; 011-000-000 `committee-passage`
- **2012-03-28** Placed on Calendar Order of 2nd Reading
- **2012-03-28** Second Reading `reading-2`
- **2012-03-28** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading March 29, 2012
- **2012-03-29** Third Reading - Passed; 053-003-000 `reading-3, passage`
- **2012-03-29** Passed Both Houses
- **2012-03-29** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2012-03-30** Governor Approved `executive-signature`
- **2012-03-30** Effective Date March 30, 2012
- **2012-03-30** Public Act . . . . . . . . . 97-0681 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2c815b47-e210-4d8d-98ca-3cd1f3b4b22a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Illinois legislature records).