By PORTER McNEIL

'86 legislative elections: free rides and Senate control

THERE is more to the 1986 elections than a rematch between Adlai E. Stevenson III and Gov. James R. Thompson. Also at stake is control of the Illinois Senate, now in the hands of the Democrats, 31-28. If the Republicans can pick up two seats — and some observers think the chances are quite good-they will become the majority for the first time since 1974. First comes the primary, and for legislative races overall, there's a very low level of competitiveness. At this writing (January 31) 120 of the 150 House and Senate incumbents seeking reelection have no opposition in their party primary; that's an 80 percent free-ride rate, up about 10 percent from 1984. And 51 House and 21 Senate incumbents —48 percent of the incumbents running in 1986 — are as good as sworn into the 85th General Assembly since they also have no opponents in the fall election.

Democrats do show more intraparty competition than Republicans, partly because of the typically large number of multicandidate Democratic races (22) for Chicago-based House and Senate seats. Not surprisingly, the vast majority (22) of races without any Republicans entered are in the Chicago area, with a few around East St. Louis; most of the Democratic primaries without candidates are in the Cook collar or downstate districts.

Clearly, voters in some districts will have little or no choice in deciding who their legislators will be. Consider the numbers. The Republicans have no candidates filed in 26 (22 percent) of the 118 House districts and 10 (26 percent) of the 39 Senate races (terms are not up in the 20 other Senate districts). Not to be outdone, no Democrats have filed in 28 (24 percent) of the House races and 12 (31 percent) of the Senate contests. Following the example of 1982 and 1984 when blanks on ballots were in abundance, the 1986 legislative elections look like a sequel unless the Illinois State Board of Elections puts into effect its proposal to ease write-in requirements for the March 18 primaries.

If 1986 follows the usual pattern, it will be an incumbent's year. For those who do face challengers, the odds are on their side since incumbents usually win.

True to Illinois political tradition, few women are running for the legislature in 1986. The number of Republican women running for the legislature is a bit higher than in the Democratic party because "we practice what the Democrats preach," says Don W. Adams, GOP chairman. Out of 113 GOP candidates for House seats, 26 (23 percent) are women, while 8 percent of the GOP candidates for the Senate are women. Out of 133 Democrats running for House seats, 17 (13 percent) are women; 8 percent of Democrats seeking Senate seats are women. State Democratic party chief Calvin Sutker, who is also a state representative (D-56, Skokie), calls Adam's statement "impure nonsense" that is "really a smokescreen" to cover up the fact that few women sit on the Republican State Central Committee. There is one woman on the 22-member GOP committee, although there are assistant state committeewomen. The Democrats have recently reformed their rules so an equal number of men and women sit on their committee (22 men and 22 women). Sutker also said women have an opportunity to "put their votes where their mouths are" by voting for Aurelia Pucinski, Democratic candidate for secretary of state.

But the key issue in the legislative elections for Adams and Sutker is control of the Senate. For the '86 election, the GOP strategy is to hold on to their 28 seats and pick up two extra to tip the Senate their way. Adams says gaining control of the Senate is one of the GOP's highest priorities, and he is optimistic. He says the GOP has targeted several incumbent Democrats, including Sens. LeRoy "Walter" Lemke (D-24, Chicago) and Patrick D. Welch (D-38, Peru). Both Lemke and Welch are considered vulnerable by some because they are from competitive districts; each won by only 4 percent of the vote last time. Also targeted is the open seat in the 42nd District, vacated by Sen. George Sangmeister of Mokena, who is Stevenson's running mate. Republican John Bourg and Democrats Thomas A. Dunn and Stanley B. Waznis, all of Joliet, are vying for the empty seat.

Sutker says Democrats are not "conceding any of the 28 seats" now filled by Republicans. He says the GOP's optimism represents a party that is "whistling as they walk past the graveyard." Charging that the Illinois GOP is in a "state of total disarray," Sutker optimistically predicts that his party will expand its margins in the House and Senate.

Partisan predictions aside, the parties did not field candidates in many of the legislative races. There will be no one to vote for on those 76 party primary ballots around the state, and free rides for incumbents are the apparent result. Parties can still put a candidate on the November ballot by petition after the primary, as they did in 1984. If the Illinois State Board of Elections' rule altering write-in requirements is not legally knocked down before the March primary, it's conceivable that every legislative district would have a contested race — however token — in November.

The new rule eliminated the requirement that House or Senate primary write-in candidates have to receive at least 300 and 600 write-in votes, respectively, in order to be placed on the November ballot. The change allows a write-in candidate to become the party's nominee with even one write-in vote, as long as that was the highest total of write-in votes in that primary. The write-in candidate would also have to let the board know within 10 days that he or she wants to be on the November ballot.

Under previous interpretation of the rules, it was rare for a write-in candidate to win nomination. The proposed change will go into effect for the March primary unless there is a legal challenge, according to elections board executive director Ron Michaelson. The result might be a surge in the number of candidates on the November ballot, but whether it would help or hinder GOP chances of recapturing the Senate is impossible to predict.

March 1986/IUinois Issues/29