Justice
Sore Loser or Drum Major for Justice?
My Fellow Illinoisans,
A sore loser is a competitor who does not readily accept losing. A sore loser refuses to allow defeat or a ruling by an official to be “the final answer.” Believing another competitor won “fair and square,” judges and officials want losers so show good sportsmanship—gracefully accepting defeat and congratulating the winner.
Because we move at the “speed of life” it is often difficult for our untrained eyes to spot unfair competition until it is too late. At home, we have the luxury of pausing and replaying a televised competition. We can even watch frame by frame, over and over again. At best, we can celebrate a spectacular play in our living room with family and friends or we can spot a foul and scream at our big screen televisions—knowing referees and other fans at the competition cannot hear us.
Our only saving grace is a player, coach or a referee on the field “calling a foul”. There are a few times in life when we spot foul play or unsportsmanlike conduct. While we don’t always have the luxury of a review or a replay, we should “throw a flag” and call attention to those who seek to operate in unfairness or dishonesty. Those called to “throw a flag” are not always sore losers. Sometimes they are drum majors for justice. These drum majors are special people who are not always team captains. From time to time they step on the field to inspire, keep cadence and ensure all are in step.
As a former college dean, management instructor, bishop, city councilman and a federal candidate for United States Senate, I arise, crying “foul”. Today, there are no individuals being amassed to physically bar ballot access in the State of Illinois but there are officials in the State who have permitted barring of ballot access—not allowing qualified independent and alternative party candidates to be given fair opportunity to run for office.
When African-Americans grew weary of a 340-year wait for Constitutional Rights, Nobel Prize Laureate and Baptist minister, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was called to be such a drum major. He “called foul” from a Birmingham jail in ’63 long before ever delivering the famous “I Have A Dream” speech.
When the clergy grew weary of racism in elections, the National Committee of Negro Churchmen “called foul”. Not long after, they placed Bishop George C. Barber “in the game.” From the base of the Statue of Liberty in ’66, Bishop Barber cried out against injustice and pointed out our American dilemma.
When our nation lost focus on the struggle for equality, it was A Solicitor General and later Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in the person of The Honorable Thurgood Marshall who, delivering an address to the White House Conference on Civil Rights in ’66 entitled “To Fulfill These Rights.” Within his address, Justice Marshall pointed out that even the Civil War, where hundreds of thousands of white and black soldiers died, did not resolve the issue of equal rights though it very well should have.
I arise today—not a sore loser but as a federal candidate for United States Senate who has actively campaigned over one year and has submitted more than 25,000 signatures of “qualified voters” to the State Board of Elections between June 14th and 21st and was denied ballot access.
Borrowing from Justice Marshall and a minister he quoted in his “To Fulfill These Rights” address, I arise as it is my “solemn and imperative duty” to attest that “diabolical injustices” once again seek to cleave down the liberties of another minority. But this time, the minority is not a people of darker skin or people who entered our country by way of Ellis Island. This time, the minority is group of disenfranchised voters seeking change in Illinois. This time, the minority are the more than a quarter of a million voters who signed petitions for candidates outside of established parties, looking for change in our state and our nation.
Today, as our history repeats a “wholesale denial of rights,” as described by Justice Marshall thirty-four years ago, the media has not highlighted the actions of the independent candidates or alternative parties who have been fighting in courts to regain ballot access. Instead, the media has only concentrated on the mudslinging between established party candidates. Sadly, the process, although unfair, is widely accepted as status quo as apathy infiltrates even the system designed to protect our Constitutional rights.
Though there may be insufficient public opinion to stop this injustice that silenced the Illinois voter and only supports a two-party system, I cry “foul play”—not as a sore loser, but another drum major for justice. Included in my right to vote is my right to be a candidate. This right has come with unreasonable burden and discriminatory practices that seek dilution of a politically cohesive minority and turn a blind eye to the petitions of more than 28,000 individuals who have expressed minimal interest in my candidacy for United States Senate alone. In this United States Senate race alone, at least four candidates who submitted more than 25,000 signatures were denied ballot access.
As I respectfully seek fair and equal elections in the courts of Illinois, I cry out in streets, “Foul play”! In Illinois, Independents are forced to “sit out of primaries” in February and can’t get in the game until late June. Instead of submitting 5,000 signatures like established party candidates, independents must submit five times that amount—25,000 signatures. Should it not be that one man gets one vote? Why is it that each signature on the independents’ nomination papers represent one fifth of a person? No, I’m not a sore loser, just a drum major for justice who seeks what President Lyndon B. Johnson sought in his efforts to “strengthen the Civil Rights Acts” of 1957, 1960, and 1964. I seek “to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man.”
In 1991, just nineteen years ago, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wisely intervened in unfair election practices and ordered the entire slate of the Harold Washington Party on the ballot (Norman v. Reed). Justice Stevens made provisions for fair elections, not allowing a candidate or his [her] party removal to predetermine the election’s outcome. The choice of the people was preserved. Justice Stevens knew excluding those candidates and the voters interested in their election was “taxation without representation.”
The Voting Rights Act provides as much. In 1965, the act was enacted to provide a comprehensive and direct solution to protecting the rights guaranteed by the Fifteenth Amendment. With the support of President Johnson, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was specifically designed to combat discrimination in voting—especially in Federal Elections.
As a federal candidate, I can attest that more than 28,694 Illinois voters have “expressed public interest” in my candidacy. Since the last week of June, I have spent many days in an “objection pending” status and near the end of August (after one year of campaigning) was removed from the ballot by those sworn to be watchdogs of the elections.
Although the election code states, “nothing shall be construed to prevent the nomination of independent candidates by petition” (10 ILCS 5/18-16), not one “true” independent candidate for U.S. Senate is on the ballot. Not only have these independents that submitted five times the amount of established party candidates been denied ballot access, but they have been accused of submitting an insufficient amount of “qualified” signatures and even accused of engaging in fraudulent activities. This is unconstitutional and does not provide Illinois voters the right to choose their United States Senator.
As we are less than thirty-eight days from the November 2 General and Special Elections, other candidates and I are still seeking to right this wrong and usher in justice. We are not seeking righteousness and justice for ourselves—then we would be what Dr. John Maxwell would call “men out for walks.” Collaboratively, we are all declaring Illinois elections should be “free and equal” as stated in the Constitution of the State of Illinois (Article III Section 3).
In the words of President Johnson, This time, on this issue, there must be no delay, no hesitation and no compromise with our purpose.” In his lesser known “We Shall Overcome” message, President Johnson stated, “Now is the moment”. Less than thirty-eight days from election, with 28,694 signatures “in hand” and now holding the status of write-in candidate for U.S. Senate instead of having my name printed on the ballot as it would be in “free and equal” elections, I say “now is the moment that we arise as drum majors and declare our Constitutional rights to vote and serve. Removal of my name from the ballot as well as the names of all of the other independents and alternative party candidates who met directory requirements was unconstitutional, contravening U.S. Constitutional Amendments I, XIV, XVII and XXIV.
Now is the moment, my fellow Illinoisans. On this issue, “there must be no delay, no hesitation and no compromise with our purpose” to remedy the injustices in our election process and make Illinois elections “fair and equal.”
Now is the moment. The purpose of this letter is not just about my candidacy or a quarter million voters who signed petitions for independent or alternative party candidates running for Governor or U.S. Senator. My purpose for writing, in the words of President Johnson, is “about the destiny of democracy”!
Respectfully Submitted,
Will Boyd, PhD
Illinois Candidate for U.S. Senate
