2 Green Party candidates to run as write-ins

Two Illinois Green Party candidates who were on a statewide slate that was knocked off the ballot last month will run as write-in candidates this November.

Scott K. Summers will run for governor as a write-in, and Sheldon Schafer will run for secretary of state.

For candidates who don’t make the ballot, it’s not possible to register to run as a write-in statewide. Instead, candidates must file notarized statements with each of 102 counties as well as eight local election boards. On Tuesday, Summers said he and Schafer are filing to run in about 25 counties that either are among the most populous in the state or that, like Downstate Jackson County, have significant Green Party support.

Write-in ballots for candidates who are not registered before the election are not counted.

Unlike candidates for the Libertarian Party, who complained Republicans threatened their petition circulators in an effort to keep the Libertarians off the ballot, Summers said he heard no complaints of Democrats doing that to the Greens. But people linked to the Democrats did challenge enough of the nearly 30,000 signatures the Greens collected to get the party under the 25,000-signature requirement.

The Libertarian Party survived the signature challenge, and its statewide candidates will be on the ballot. The Constitution Party, like the Greens, is off the ballot.

Some Green candidates who are not running statewide were unaffected and will be on the ballot. They are Nancy Wade for U.S. House in the 5th District; Paula Bradshaw for U.S. House in the 12th District; and George Milkowski, Karen Roothaan and Michael Smith for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

Two weeks ago, Judge J. John Tharp Jr., in ruling on a ballot-access lawsuit filed by the Illinois Green Party, called Illinois’ justification for its requirement that only a full slate of candidates can be on the ballot “flimsy and bereft of logic,” but he rejected a motion for a preliminary injunction.

Read an Aug. 1 Sun-Times editorial on ballot access here.

Read Dan Mihalopolous’ report “Rauner firing blanks in flap over hired gun in ballot challenge?” here.