* Some media outlets were predicting they’d be challenged, but I didn’t think they would…

A spokesman for the IL Republican Party says they won’t challenge petitions filed by Sen. Sam McCann to run as third party candidate for gov

— Monique Garcia (@moniquegarcia) July 2, 2018

McCann’s operation screened petition circulators to make sure they were eligible, then subjected the end product to fairly rigorous scrutiny and filed 65,000, which was 40,000 more than the minimum. And they filed on the last possible day. Finding enough evidence to suggest almost two-thirds of his signatures were invalid in a week was always gonna be tough, if not impossible.

You can track petition objections by clicking here. The deadline to file an objection is 5 o’clock today.

*** UPDATE 1 *** From the ILGOP…

Hey Rich,

Of the 65,000 signatures McCann submitted, his people struck nearly 30,000 invalid signatures. After our own review, McCann had reached the 25,000 valid signature threshold. Our review also shows that McCann received assistance from individuals close to Madigan’s political organization.

Here’s an interesting tidbit:

Robert Handzik and Terrence Goggin both circulated for McCann. Both have run as “Republicans” against Madigan in his House district, but past news reports have highlighted their ties to Madigan’s organization.

The Handzik and Goggin petitions are attached, and linked below are a few news articles about them:

Robert Handzik

http://abc7chicago.com/archive/8874325/

http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/columns/2015-12-03/jim-dey-always-time-politics.html

Terrence Goggin

http://abc7chicago.com/archive/9373211/

http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2013-12-09/madigans-easy-run-re-election.html

Thanks and let me know if you need anything else on this.

Aaron P. DeGroot

*** UPDATE 2 *** I asked Aaron if they’d be challenging the Libertarian Party’s petitions. His texted reply…

Not challenging those either. They also sufficiently reached the 25,000 signature threshold.