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Chicago Democrat survives ballot challenge by 2 signatures

CHICAGO (AP) - After weeks of wrangling over the nominating petitions of Illinois state Sen. Ira Silverstein, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners says he has enough signatures to remain on the ballot.

Silverstein, a Democrat, initially submitted 1,999 signatures last fall, but election board clerks deemed more than half of them invalid, lowering his total to 955.

Dozens of voter affidavits were submitted to election board hearing officer Maurice Sone, who accepted 47 of them and recommended last weekend the 1,002 signatures qualified the senator for the ballot.

Earlier this week the board rejected that number, deciding he was two signatures short of the required 1,000.

Board spokesman Jim Allen said Friday the board ordered Sone to review the case again and he amended the count to 1,004 signatures, of which the board accepted 1,002.

A Legislative Inspector General's report recently found Silverstein acted unprofessionally while working on legislation with advocate Denise Rotheimer.

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