Candidates Still Fighting to Appear on Illinois Primary Ballots

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Christina Tobin

Phone: 312-320-4101

Email: Christina@freeandequalinc.com

Website: https://www.freeandequalinc.com/

With the Illinois primaries now less than 35 days away, some candidates are still fighting to maintain their spot on the February ballot.  Illinois’ arcane and discriminatory ballot access laws are still being used to knock legitimate candidates off the ballot and keep power in the hands of a self-appointed political elite.

Bob McQuillan, a Republican running for State House in District 50, was placed on the ballot despite objections to his petition signatures.  Despite having won this battle, McQuillan now has to go to court to defend his ballot placement.

John Reeves, working on behalf of McQuillan’s primary opponent Keith Wheeler, is pressing the absurd claim that only signatures written in cursive can be counted as legitimate.  At issue are six voters who signed the petition by printing their name.  Whether or not they are real voters who were eligible to sign is not at issue.

Reeves has even been quoted as saying, “I have earned the right to choose who will be the candidate in District 50.”  More details on McQuillan’s struggle to offer himself in public service to the voters of his district can be found in a recent article in the Beacon-News.

This arrogance is typical of the self-styled Illinois power-brokers who believe the voters are a mere inconvenience on the path to solidifying their personal control of Illinois government.

A similar story is unfolding in the race for Judge in the 11th Subcircuit of Cook County.

Radusa Ostojic, a candidate in a crowded Democratic primary, faced two objections to her petitions.  She overcame one attacking the validity of her signatures.  However, her other objector Larry Kelly, working for self-appointed political operative Rodney McCulloch, made over 900 claims of fraud against her 669 total signatures in a scattershot attack which has been upheld by the Cook County Board of Elections.

The Board arbitrary gave Kelly and McCulloch an extension simply because they failed to appear for the review of Ostojic’s signatures by the hearing examiner, which initially found she had enough valid signatures.

Without notice to Ostojic, the Board reopened the signature review, which in this case found her to be 89 signatures short of the 500 required for ballot access.  By the end of the hearing on Christmas Eve, the Board had restored 75 of these signatures, but refused to give her a similar extension to rehabilitate any signatures.

McCulloch received special treatment from the Board of Elections despite having been convicted just last year of perjury and election fraud by falsifying signatures on a candidate’s petition.  According to Ostojic, “Even Chairperson [Daniel] Madden was shaking his head in disbelief that my signatures were objected often stating the signatures on my petition are exactly the same as on the voter registration card.”

Sadly, Ostojic has no money to go to court, and no time left to raise funds to continue the fight.  Ostojic said, “If the point of democracy is to give people the voice to choose a candidate, that opportunity and right has now been taken away.”

Christina Tobin, Founder and CEO of Free and Equal, Inc., which defended Ostojic’s signatures, readily agreed.  “This is just another example of how money rules in politics.  Legitimate candidates outside of the political establishment are forced to spend far too much just to get their names on the ballot.”

Tobin offered a simple alternative to the corrupt objection process.  “Illinois is only one of three states that uses this system,” said Tobin.  “Meanwhile, over two-thirds of the states simply require a filing fee to enter a party primary.”

Tobin concluded, “Requiring filing fees instead would generate extra revenue for the state, save time for elections officials, and most importantly, allow the voters and not the political elites to determine who will serve in public office.”

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