West, Pellegrini become ballot access objection targets Friday

SPRINGFIELD/CHICAGO — Two candidates — presidential candidate Kanye West and Congressional candidate Ruth Pellegrini — were the targets of ballot access petition challenges Friday, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Details on West petition objection

West, a rapper and entrepreneur, turned in over 4,000 signatures just before the deadline Monday. However, he will have to face two upcoming objection hearings before the election board body soon.

The first objection group to West’s petitions comes from Sean Tenner, Steve Spagnolo, Charles Morris, and Denise Bradley of Chicago and Mitchell Johnson of South Holland. The other objection filing is from Antonette Smith, whose address was unknown, probably due to a redaction request.

West’s team made the filing without the inclusion of a vice-presidential candidate but usually isn’t an objectionable offense.

Pellegrini also faces petition objection

Also facing a petition objection is Ruth Pellegrini of Steger, who is running as an independent in Congressional District 1.

Devin Jones and Valerie Adams of Chicago are filing objections to Pellegrini’s petition. The reason for the objection is unknown as of press time.

Insight on ballot access laws in Illinois

However, the full-slate requirement was abolished in the Land of Lincoln following a landmark 2016 decision in Libertarian Party of Illinois v. Illinois State Board of Elections, 164 F.Supp.3d 1023 (N.D. Ill. 2016). So it’s highly likely the campaign team for West knew this decision, as well as this year’s Libertarian Party of Illinois v. Pritzker 1:20-cv-02112 (N.D. Ill. 2020) decision.

What could be a contributor to why the petitions are facing a challenge could be the last-minute gathering, as petitioners were spotted collecting signatures in Springfield on filing day. Usually, this results in some rushed signatures with invalid voter information.

The petition objection period kicked off earlier this week and will end at 5 p.m. on Monday.

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