Cook Coounty clerk adds suburban filing locations for school candidates

The Cook County Clerk's office is setting up four locations in the city of Chicago and the suburbs for school board candidates in the April 7 election to submit their nominating petitions when the filing period begins Dec. 15.

Under a new state law, school board hopefuls must file for candidacy through their county clerk rather than at their school district's office. About 700 candidates from 145 suburban Cook County elementary, high school and unit school districts are expected to file paperwork to get on the ballot, according to the clerk's office.

Petitions will be accepted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Dec 15 at the following locations:

• Cook County Clerk's Office, 69 W. Washington St., Chicago

• Arlington Racecourse, 2000 W. Euclid Ave., Ditka's Hall of Fame Room, Arlington Heights

• Hawthorne Distribution Center, 2222 S. Kenneth Ave., (blue awning entrance) Chicago

• Tinley Park Convention Center, 18451 Convention Center Dr., West Exhibit Hall, Tinley Park

Petitions can be filed Tuesday, Dec. 16 through Saturday, Dec. 20 and Monday, Dec. 22, only at the clerk's office in Chicago and Hawthorne Distribution Center.

All candidates who are in line by 8 a.m. on Dec. 15 will have their papers stamped with that time. If more than one candidate seeking the same office files at 8 a.m., a lottery will be conducted to determine whose name will appear first on the ballot. Candidates for the same office who file between 4 and 5 p.m. on Dec. 22, the last day of filing, will also be included in a lottery for the last spot.

Information about how to file to be a school board candidate can be found at cookcountyclerk.com/schoolcandidates. Candidates should review the fact sheet, packet details and signature requirements.

The transfer of filing responsibility from school districts to all Illinois election authorities - not just Cook County - was included in an election bill signed into law on July 1. Since the filing period often overlaps with school districts' winter break, as it does this year, many school districts did not wish to stay open solely for filing, according to the clerk's office.

Another new law transferred oversight of objections to school board candidates to the Cook County Officers' Electoral Board, which already hears objections to library, police, fire and sanitary district candidacies.