The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners dashed the hopes of two more mayoral candidates Wednesday afternoon, bringing the number of candidates down to 15.
Roger Washington, a veteran of the Chicago Police Department, and Catherine Brown D’Tycoon were kicked off the ballot at the board’s meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Both candidates were challenged by Willie Wilson. D’Tycoon was also challenged by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who is also running for mayor.
D’Tycoon was kicked off for having 17 separate volumes of petition signatures — state election codes say the signatures have to be presented in one uniform package. D’Tycoon was not present for the hearing and the Sun-Times broke the news to her after the meeting. She didn’t immediately have a comment.
Washington was kicked off the ballot because he didn’t show up for petition hearings. He says he was never served an order to appear, though documents filed with the board show receipt of certified mail to Washington’s home and a letter from the sheriff’s department confirming the notice to appear before a hearing officer was served.
Washington disputed that and said, as a peer support member for the police department, his time in the past few weeks has been spent consoling officers through tragedies.
Washington said the board is biased and that he intends to become a write-in candidate.
“At this time, Willie Wilson has displayed negative energy challenging people that are on the same mission as himself,” Washington said. “The board has displayed favoritism for machine candidates.”
