Sullivan, Soloman, & Miles Dodge Ballot Objections

By Benjamin Cox on April 22, 2022 at 9:29am

The Illinois State Board of Elections is still pouring through numerous objections to candidate petitions for the June primary ballot.

An entire slate of Republican candidates were stricken from the ballot for various reasons.

Objection hearing notes were made public yesterday by the State Board of Elections ahead of a final meeting to certify the ballot next week.

One major Republican gubernatorial candidate, Jesse Sullivan and his running mate Kathleen Murphy, were among those being objected to based upon accusation of circulating nominating petitions fraudulently. According to an objection filed by Matthew Custardo, who happens to be fellow Republican gubernatorial candidate Gary Rabine’s campaign attorney, accused the Sullivan campaign of “round tabling” petitions. The term means that circulators of petitions allegedly sit around a table and fill in names of actual voters and sign petitions for them.

During a hearing officer’s inspection of Sullivan’s petitions last week, Sullivan’s campaign had nearly more than double the required amount of valid signatures to remain on the ballot. The Sullivan Campaign in turn filed a brief accusing the Rabine campaign of “frivolous gamesmanship.” The State Board of Elections General Counsel also felt concerned that Custardo’s representation in the objection proceedings weren’t forthcoming. General Counsel also says its considering filing a referral to the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission due to Custardo’s actions.

Sullivan Campaign spokesperson Andrew Welhouse released the following statement last night in response to the conclusion of the ballot access fight: “As expected, this political gamesmanship has been thoroughly rejected by the Board of Elections. On June 28th, we’re expecting the people of Illinois to do the same, by voting for a real change from the same old Illinois politics! 

“They tried using their lawyers and the insider games, and I’m sure there will be more lies and attacks headed our way. That’s because we’re actually running to clean up Illinois, and the corrupt insiders are scared – and they should be.“

Other candidates who will remain on the primary ballot include fellow Republican gubernatorial candidate Max Soloman and Democrat challenger to Governor J.B. Pritzker, Beverly Miles.

A candidate that won’t appear on the ballot as a Republican for governor is Keisha Smith of Chicago. Smith was denied ballot access after an objector noted that she circulated petitions without a running mate. According to state election law, Gubernatorial candidates must have a lieutenant governor candidate when filing nomination papers.

The State Board of Elections said on its Twitter yesterday that the remaining hearings for objections will be heard throughout the day today. The status of objections can be viewed by watching this site.