Story posted Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tossed From Ballot, Atanus Plans Appeal
By TIM O'CONNOR Journal & Topics Reporter
U.S. Rep. 9th District candidate Susanne Atanus of Des Plaines has been removed from the Republican primary ballot.
Cook County Circuit Court determined on Jan. 12 that Atanus's nominating petitions were inadequate and failed to meet state standards because they lacked vital information, such as the date of the primary. The date is necessary because without it candidates could reuse signatures from earlier petitions every time the candidate submitted a petition to run for office.
Candidates needed a minimum of 346 signatures to run for the 9th District.
The Circuit Court's decision overturns an earlier decision by the Cook County Electoral Board to keep Atanus on the ballot.
Ira Kahn of Skokie filed the objection to Atanus's candidacy. He argued that 50 pages of her nominating petition were not uniform, as required, and that all signatures from those pages should be discounted, leaving Atanus with less than the minimum number of signatures required to run for office.
"The judge didn't rule in my favor but he should have ruled in my favor," Atanus said.
Cook County Clerk's Office spokeswoman Courtney Greve said Atanus's name would still appear on the ballot because it is too close to the Feb. 2 primary to change the ballots and early voting has already begun. However, no vote for Atanus will be counted.
"The Clerk's Office will hand out notices to all voters in that jurisdiction alerting them that any votes for this candidate will be repressed," Greve said.
Atanus is appealing the decision to the Illinois Appellate Court but the court would need to decide the case before the primary. She has asked for an expedited hearing.
"I'm not off the ballot yet because I have an appeal," Atanus said. "I'm going to working on winning the appeal and we'll go from there."
Greve said Atanus has until Jan. 26, a week before the primary, to file as a write-in candidate. Atanus ran as a write-in candidate for the 9th District during the November 2008 election.
If Atanus does become a write-in candidate voters would still have to write her name on the ballot's write-in line, even though her name will appear on the ballot. Greve said checking Atanus's box would not count as a vote.
If she remains off the ballot her opponent, Joel Pollak, will be unopposed in the primary.
Incumbent Jan Schakowsky is unopposed in the Democratic Primary. Simon Ribeiro and Morris Shanfield are running in the Green Party primary.
The 9th District covers Des Plaines, Park Ridge, Niles, Glenview, Rosemont, Evanston, Skokie, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Norridge, Wilmette, Northfield, and Golf along with much of Chicago's North Side.
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