There will be less choices for president and one less candidate on the ballot in the 13th Congressional District in November.
The Illinois State Board of Elections voted on Friday morning to remove Green Party Candidate Chibu Asonye from the ballot for the 13th District race. The Illinois State Board of Elections Electoral Board met jointly in Chicago and Springfield Friday morning and removed Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian placeholder candidate Scott Schluter. Both Stein and Schluter lacked the minimum number of 25,000 valid signatures on ballot petitions.
The State Journal Register reports that an objection against independent candidate Robert Kennedy, Jr. was also filed because of an incorrect address on his signature petitions. The objection against Kennedy alleged, while he had enough signatures, there was a “pattern of fraud” and that he used a false address on his nomination papers. A hearing officer for the election board determined the address was incorrect, but ruled that its false nature was “not fatal” to the candidacy. Despite Kennedy suspending his candidacy last week and endorsing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Kennedy’s name will remain on the ballot in Illinois.
In the 13th District race, a challenge to Green Party Congressional candidate Chibu Asonye was filed in early July by Springfield resident Carolyn Kopel. According to St. Louis Public Radio, Kopel is a frequent contributor to the Democratic Party, filed the challenge after Asonye failed to meet the required petition signature threshold for third-party candidates. Asonye needed more than 12,000 signatures and garnered just 1,500. By comparison, Democrat incumbent Nikki Budzinski needed just 700 signatures and her Republican challenger Joshua Loyd needed just 500 to gain ballot access.
According to campaign finance disclosures, Kopel has donated more than $6,600 to Budzinski’s campaign in the past.
Asonye’s campaign said in a statement that she was not surprised by the board’s decision and has filed the necessary paperwork to be a write-in candidate.