Eight candidates could be off ballot after election board hearings Thursday

Seventeen candidates - nine Democrats and eight Republicans - will learn the fate of their campaigns Thursday during the first of two Illinois State Board of Elections hearings scheduled over the next week to determine ballots for the upcoming June 28 primary.

Eight of those candidates are at risk of being kept off ballots.

Additionally, the board is slated to rule on objections to 57 other candidacies at its April 21 meeting.

"Usually, we expect to handle 35 to 40 objections, so we do have a very high number this year," elections board spokesman Matt Dietrich said.

He said a number of reasons are likely behind the uptick, including the change in the primary date, weather-related difficulties in collecting petition signatures, and remapping.

"The new congressional and state legislative maps also could have contributed to objections due to voters' being unaware that they were in new districts and signing petitions for candidates seeking office outside the new district," Dietrich suggested.

Ten of the 17 objections being decided Thursday are related to signature issues, according to the board's documents.

The objections already have been adjudicated by hearing officers, who have made recommendations in each case to the board.

If the board agrees with those recommendations, eight candidates will not appear on primary ballots, including one Republican gubernatorial candidate, Keisha S. Smith, who did not name a running mate for lieutenant governor as required by state law.

Smith's departure from the GOP gubernatorial race still would leave eight others vying for the party's nomination in June. However, there are objections pending against four of those candidates that are expected to be decided at the board's meeting next week.

The board also is expected to dismiss objections to 10 candidates Thursday, including congresswoman Lauren Underwood, after the complaints were withdrawn.

Four individuals also have voluntarily withdrawn their candidacies, thus ending any need to adjudicate objections, according to board documents.

Dietrich said another 60-plus objections will be heard by local election officials in the coming days, as well. The state board handles only objections to candidates for seats with jurisdiction in multiple counties, he noted.