Illinois election board: Steve Reick, Casey Urlacher can stay on March ballot

The Illinois State Board of Elections ruled that Republican candidates Steve Reick and Casey Urlacher can stay on the March 15 primary ballot.

Board members on Wednesday overruled the objection against Reick, and the two filed against Urlacher.

Reick, of Harvard, is challenging longtime Democratic incumbent state Rep. Jack Franks of Marengo in the 63rd Illinois House District. Urlacher, who is mayor of Mettawa and the younger brother of Bears legend Brian Urlacher, is running for the 26th Illinois Senate District seat now held by Dan Duffy.

Woodstock resident Ronald Eck filed the objection against Reick, alleging that a significant number of Reick's signatures are invalid because they either did not come from registered voters or came from voters outside of the 63rd District, which covers much of western and northern McHenry County.

Urlacher faced petition challenges from Daniel Krucek of Deer Park and David Stieper of Barrington Hills. Krucek alleges that Urlacher's petition signatures don't match names on voter files, and that some of the signatures were not collected by the petition circulators who must collect them in person and attest to that fact.

Urlacher said the ruling was not a surprise to him, but called the challenges "un-American" and a waste of time and taxpayer money.

"I put in the time and the work, and so did all the volunteers who helped me. I knew I had the signatures. I was never worried," he said.

Both candidates face March primary challenges.

Urlacher is running against Republican candidates Dan McConchie of Hawthorn Woods and Barrington Hills Village President Martin McLaughlin to succeed Duffy, R-Lake Barrington, who is limiting himself to two terms.

Reick, who unsuccessfully ran against Franks in 2014, is running against Jeffery Lichte of McHenry in the primary. But Lichte, unlike Reick, has neither a political committee filed in his name to support his run, nor has any campaign contributions on file.

The 26th District covers southeastern McHenry County, southwestern Lake County, far northwestern Kane County and a sliver of Cook County, including all or parts of Crystal Lake, Lake in the Hills, Algonquin, Cary, Fox River Grove, Carpentersville and Barrington.