Candidates vying for political offices across Illinois began filing petitions Monday morning to be placed on next year’s March 17 primary ballot.
Some candidates lined up hours before the week-long filing window opened at 9 a.m. to turn in their stacks of petitions in Springfield for statewide offices and the Cook County clerk’s Loop office for county elected positions.
Petitions were submitted for dozens of candidates — including JB Pritkzer for a potential third term as governor, his returning Republican challenger Darren Bailey and the many candidates looking to replace Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Reps Danny Davis and Jan Schakowsky. Signatures were also filed for Toni Preckwinkle, running for a potential fifth term as Cook County board president, and her primary challenger Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd).
It’s a standard practice for the big names to get their petitions in first thing. But some candidates will also wait till the very end of the filing period to submit their signatures.
That was clear Monday morning when fewer candidates than usual stopped in to file, said Edmund Michalowski, deputy clerk of elections for Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon. Less than an hour after the county clerk opened its doors for candidates, no one was in line to drop off petitions.
“I’m surprised there weren’t as many. … We thought there’d be a little more,” Michalowski said.
After the filing period ends Monday, the clerk’s office will publish the preliminary primary ballot. That kicks off a week-long period for filing objections against the candidates up for election.
Candidates who turned in their signatures first thing Monday were entered into a lottery to have their names appear at the top of the ballot. The final candidates to come in next Monday afternoon will be put in a lottery for the last position.
“It’s just so exciting that the candidates today have spent weeks gathering signatures with hundreds, possibly thousands of volunteers,” Michalowski said.
Several county positions are up for election, including clerk, treasurer, sheriff, assessor, county commissioner for districts 1 through 17, board of review for districts 1 to 3, water reclamation district commissioner and township committeeperson.
