Board of Elections Begins Candidate Removals
The Illinois State Board of Elections headquarters in Springfield.
The Illinois State Board of Elections Tuesday began the process of removing candidates from the March ballot. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but the most notable actions taken.
Republican gubernatorial candidate James Mendrick will remain on the ballot after it was alleged petition signers didn’t match the address they’re registered to vote at. The board overruled the objection.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Patricia Tillman will be removed from the ballot. She filed around 3,400 valid signatures. 5,000 were required.
Democratic Comptroller candidate George Danos of Champaign will remain on the ballot after it was found he had enough valid signatures.
U.S. Senate candidate Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Schaumburg) will remain on the ballot. Lamar Chapman challenged Krishnamoorthi’s candidacy, alleging he is not a citizen. (There’s some other background between Chapman and Krishnamoorthi that I don’t totally know the details of.) Krishnamoorthi was born in India and his family moved to Peoria as a child. Krishnamoorthi provided his certificate of citizenship, which he received in 1983. And a copy of his U.S. passport. Oops.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Adam Delgado of Chicago will be removed from the ballot for only submitting 1,719 of the 5,000 valid signatures required. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jump Shepherd was removed from the ballot because he listed a box at a UPS Store as his home address. A third Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, Anthony Williams of Dolton, was also removed from the ballot. He submitted 1,576 signatures.
Democrat Kat Abughazaleh will remain on the ballot in the 9th Congressional District. The objection was odd and hand written, but essentially boiled down to signatures not matching addresses they were registered to vote at. The board overruled the challenge. It was alleged the candidate committed widespread fraud and the board even voted to forward the petitions to the Attorney General and State’s Attorney.
Congressman Darin LaHood (R-Peoria) will not have a primary challenge as Republican John Kitover was removed from the ballot. Kitover was found to have only 266 valid signatures.
Republican Cody Holt of Elgin was removed from the ballot in the 33rd Senate District. He filed 822 of the 1,000 required to get on the ballot. That leaves the GOP’s preferred candidate, Jessica Bruglemans, in the primary to replace outgoing Sen. Don DeWitte (R-St. Charles).
Republican Tosi Ufodike of Hawthorn Woods will be removed from the ballot in the 51st House District. She filed her Statement of Economic Interest with the Lake County Clerk and not the Secretary of State. That leaves Lori Smith of Long Grove the sole GOP candidate in the primary.
Republican Peter Dombrowski of Schaumburg was removed from the ballot in his attempt to challenge Rep. Michelle Mussman (D-Schaumburg). He filed with 490 signatures, short of the minimum of 500.
Board removed Democratic State Rep. candidate Halley Johnson of Granite City, who was attempting to challenge Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville). She only submitted 259 petition signatures. The minimum required is 500.
