Objection raised to 60th House candidate's petition

The candidacy of a politician seeking the late Eddie Washington's state House seat is being formally challenged.

North Chicago Alderman Valerie DeVost is running as an independent for the 60th House seat held since 2003 by Washington, a Waukegan Democrat.

On Monday, Waukegan resident Valeria Joyce Madison filed an objection to Joyce's candidate petition with the Illinois State Board of Elections. The details of the objection were not immediately available.

Neither Madison nor DeVost could be reached for comment.

An elections board panel will review the objection. If the objection is upheld, DeVost could be removed from the Nov. 2 ballot.

Washington died June 5 of a heart attack. He was in his fourth term and was running for re-election.

A three-member Democratic Party panel interviewed potential successors last week. State Sen. Terry Link, leader of the Lake County Democrats, was expected to name an appointee for the post this week.

Whoever gets the appointment won't face a Republican in November. No Republicans ran in February's primary for the seat, and the GOP did not appoint anyone to run after the primary.

That leaves DeVost, a former Democrat, as the only other candidate - unless she gets knocked off the ballot.

The 60th District includes parts of North Chicago, Waukegan and Park City. The seat carries a two-year term.