A slate of alleged far-right conspiracy theorists running for state office will not be appearing on the June primary ballot.
In State Board of Elections’ hearing papers made public today, the candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor from the “We Are the People of Illinois!” slate, Emily Johnson and Brett Mahlen have not been certified to appear on the June 28th Primary Election ballot as Republicans.
According to an objection filed by Dean Maragos, a Chicago attorney and son of former Democratic General Assembly member Samuel Maragos, he says Mahlen had no intention of staying in the State of Illinois and that several of the petitions by Mahlen and Johnson were inconsistent with Mahlen’s name crossed off at the top of some sheets and some sheets not completed. 235 petition sheets, which contain 10 names each, were rejected by the State Board of Elections. By striking the sheets, Johnson and Mahlen have fewer than the required number of signatures.
In a separate objection, further flaws were found in petitions for the remainder of the slate that include Michael Kinney – candidate for Comptroller, Michelle Turney – candidate for Secretary of State, Patrice McDermand – candidate for Treasurer, and Maryann Mahlen – candidate for U.S. Senator.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the group of candidates were linked to the QAnon conspiracy, sporting a slogan and symbol linked to the nationwide conspiracy theory movement.
Ballots for the primary are set to be certified by the State Board of Elections next week.