Tracy Smodilla, Republican candidate for the 22nd District State Senate seat, said recently that attempts to keep her off of the November ballot were designed to limit choices for voters and shield her opponent from facing a viable challenger.
“It is easier for a majority party and far less expensive to throw down legal challenges to try and have an opponent thrown off a ballot than to meet that candidate head-to-head in the public election campaign process,” Smodilla told the Kane County Reporter.
Smodilla is facing Democrat Cristina Castro, who defeated Steve Caramelli in the Democrats’ May primary. Smodilla and Castro are vying for the seat now held by Democrat Mike Noland, who vacated his seat to run for U.S. Congress.
Tracy Smodilla
| Contributed photo
In a message posted to her campaign website, Smodilla said Democrats spent three weeks attempting to have her disqualified.
“Signatures were tossed for even the slightest infractions, such as a middle name or initial being used or omitted, despite their authenticity,” Smodilla said.
The scrutiny of her petitions was more than the usual due diligence to ensure candidate eligibility, Smodilla said. If successful, the scheme would have eliminated debate and voter choice, which ultimately is unfair to the electorate, Smodilla said.
“Challengers use these tactics to create distractions for the petitioner and keep them off the campaign trail reaching voters,” Smodilla said. “There is also great potential for a psychological drain on a petitioner and his or her campaign.
Under Illinois election rules, candidates who are not elected through a party primary are required to submit 1,000 signatures to appear on the general election ballot. Smodilla said her campaign submitted petitions containing more than 2,500 names because she anticipated an effort to have some of them invalidated.
Chicago attorney Richard Means, who specializes in election law and public interest litigation, has written about this practice in an article titled, “Nominating Petition Traps.”
“Just about the worst thing that can happen to a political candidate is to be removed from the ballot. The next worst thing is for the candidate to spend all or most of his campaign resources and time defending a reasonable-sounding objection to his ballot access,” Means wrote in the article published on his firm’s website.
Means said numerous candidates have been snared, exhausting their campaign resources to fight epic court battles just to get their names on the ballot. Smodilla, however, was not caught in that trap.
“After two separate examinations and audits, we prevailed and still had far more than the required number of signatures. In addition, my opponents have argued for extensions to objection deadlines due to a change in attorneys,” Smodilla said.
Rather than distracting her, Smodilla said her campaign has been emboldened. An official kick-off event was held June 30.
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