No primary election petition challenges in DuPage County

There were no primary candidate petition challenges filed for 2024 local races – the second major election cycle in a row with no ballot objections in the county, DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek has announced in a news release.

“It was unprecedented in 2022 when no candidate petition challenges were filed here,” Kaczmarek said. “We just surpassed our own record.”

Starting in 2019, Kaczmarek initiated DuPage County’s first petition workshop to help potential candidates understand the process of obtaining a place on the ballot and staying there.  During COVID, the County Clerk’s office continued detailed training workshops online with Illinois Election Attorney Patrick Bond. 2022 was notorious for ballot objections filed all over Illinois, even in small counties with low populations which had never experienced such challenges. Yet DuPage, the second most-populated county, had no ballot objections that year.

The clerk’s office also simplified and clarified candidate forms and instructions. Together with the educational workshops, objections that are costly to both candidates and the county have been avoided for two major election cycles.

“I had observed candidate petition objection hearings in DuPage for years as a private citizen,” Kaczmarek says. “It really bothered me to watch well-meaning potential candidates being tossed off the ballot because of minor flaws or the inability to afford an attorney.”

“I firmly believe that ballot access is a fundamental right within a democracy. Instead of removing candidates from the ballot over technicalities, voters should have the opportunity to decide,” she added.