Two Republicans fall off the ballot in gubernatorial, Senate contests

Candidates in a pair of statewide races are off the March 17 primary ballot due to successful objections to their nominating petitions, Illinois State Board of Elections officials ruled Wednesday.

An election board staff count found Republican U.S. Senate hopeful CaSándra Claiborne of Chicago had only 2,976 signatures on her petitions instead of the requisite 5,000.

The decision whittles down the hotly contested election to replace outgoing Sen. Dick Durbin from 22 candidates to 16 — six Republicans and 10 Democrats.

Claiborne contended she had collected over 5,000 signatures but at a hearing she “failed to produce any evidence or testimony” supporting that claim, board of elections general counsel Marni Malowitz said.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Moore’s name also was removed from the ballot.

Malowitz agreed with objectors that Broadview resident Moore had insufficient signatures and failed to identify a lieutenant governor in his nomination papers.

Moore had argued that he didn’t need to include a running mate in his paperwork, but the law requires joint petitions to be filed for governor races, officials said.

The total signatures tallied also fell short at 3,297.

The board will hear one more objection case in the gubernatorial stakes Thursday involving Republican candidate Joe Severino of Lake Forest.