Election Board Starts Review of 108 Petition Challenges

The Chicago Board of Elections has 108 cases to sort through starting Monday. These disputes involve challenges to nominating petitions for the mayor's race, City Council, and other local offices in the upcoming municipal elections.

Candidates for mayor must file 12,500 valid signatures from registered Chicago voters to secure a place on the ballot. Most applicants submit three to four times that amount to ensure they survive legal challenges. The board must certify the final ballot by December 17. The mayoral election is set for February 23, 2027, with early voting and mail-in ballots beginning on January 14.

Current Mayor Brandon Johnson faces objections to his petitions alongside several opponents. Two hearings regarding Johnson's petitions ended on Monday without a ruling. His attorney plans to file a motion on Tuesday. A hearing officer has scheduled a conference call for Wednesday to determine when the board will address both challenges to Johnson's qualifications.

One challenge comes from the campaign of Willie Wilson. The campaign alleges that some signatures submitted by the mayor were photocopies. Wilson's team also claims that Johnson’s petitions include several pages of signatures originally intended for City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin. A separate challenge accuses Johnson of filing fraudulent signatures. Objector Jessica Jackson stated that Johnson should be disqualified because he knows the procedure. Johnson's campaign has said it possesses more than enough valid signatures to qualify. Johnson’s attorney has until 5 p.m. Tuesday to file his motion, and responses are due by 5 p.m. Wednesday.

A separate dispute concerns whether three candidates can run for mayor while they also ran for other offices in the 2026 midterms held last week. Mayoral candidate Bill Quinlan is challenging Alexi Giannoulias, Mike Quigley, and Maria Pappas. Quinlan argues that state law required the trio to pick one office. Giannoulias ran for Secretary of State, Quigley ran for Congress, and Pappas ran for Cook County Treasurer. A judge dismissed Quinlan’s previous lawsuit last month because he filed it too early, but the judge left the legal question open. Quinlan is now raising the issue with the election board.

Hearings on the various challenges began at 10 a.m. Monday. The process could take weeks to complete.