Ballot challenge for McQuillan not over yet
One way or the other, Bob McQuillan of Geneva intends to be in the running Feb. 2 for the Republican nomination for the state 50th House seat.
McQuillan has filed paperwork to run as a write-in candidate, should a Cook County Circuit Court judge decide the Illinois State Board of Elections erred in keeping his name on the ballot.
T. John Reeves of Oswego has objected to McQuillan's petitions, disputing some of the signatures. McQuillan says Reeves is asking the court to overrule the state board because he was granted a two-day extension to obtain a sufficient number of affidavits on the validity of contested signatures.
Repeated attempts to reach Reeves were unsuccessful.
An emergency motion hearing was conducted Tuesday. McQuillan said he was given until noon Thursday to send written responses to Judge Patrick McGann and to Reeves. Reeves then has until noon Monday to reply. At 3 p.m. Monday both sides will appear again before McGann.
If either side disagrees with the judge's ruling, they could appeal the decision in the state appellate court.
According to McQuillan, Reeves supports one of his opponents, Keith Wheeler of Oswego. Both Wheeler and Reeves have been active in the Kendall County Republican party organization. Reeves is listed as a "friend" on Wheeler's campaign Facebook page, and Wheeler is listed as a "friend" on the Reeves Facebook page. Wheeler has said he has nothing to do with the petition objection.
Both are running against Rep. Kay Hatcher of Yorkville, who is in her first term.
The Illinois State Board of Elections Dec. 17 could not muster enough votes to either uphold or deny Reeves' objections, resulting in McQuillan remaining on the ballot. Reeves filed his motion Dec. 23.
The state election calendar says that election authorities were due to have printed by Dec. 21 ballots available to be sent to military personnel, their spouses and dependents, or citizens temporarily living outside of the United States.
In-person absentee and early voting start Jan. 11.