Illinois House District 95 candidate withdraws from race after being short of signatures
Kelvin Coburn, a Republican candidate running in Illinois House District 95, is ending his campaign after not receiving sufficient signatures.
Required to collect between 500 and 1,500 signatures, Coburn received 561 per records shared by the Illinois State Board of Elections but several filing errors reduced that number below the minimum. Coburn, a Department of Transportation employee from Chatham, was challenging incumbent state Rep. Mike Coffey, R-Springfield, in the Republican primary.
Objectors to his nomination papers included Patty Meyer and Collins Pieper, both Republican precinct committeepersons also seeking reelection. Their objections filed with ISBE and going public Tuesday, centered on the papers including non-genuine signatures and signatures from outside the district.
Coburn said Wednesday that some of his signatures did come from the Illinois House District 108, which includes portions of Chatham.
"I reviewed all the signatures that they objected to and they were in fact either in the 95th District or the 108th District," he said. "I have no issues with it and I have withdrawn from the race."
Coffey, responding to his primary opponent stepping down, said it was what's best for the party as it attempts to chip away at Democrats' 78-40 super-majority in the chamber.
Coburn and a Village of Chatham trustee Kristen Chiaro, also running in the 95th, both received objectors to their nomination papers. Sangamon County Republican Party chairwoman Dianne Barghouti Hardwick objected to Chiaro's papers.
The objection points out Chiaro's signature on Coburn's nomination papers. Illinois election code prohibits candidates from signing the papers of another candidate in the race. The objectors said in their complaint that this equates to "political maneuvering."
Chiaro is the sole Democrat in the race and would face Coffey in the November general election.
Hardwick represented the county in voting for Coffey to replace former state Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, who left the office to become the president of the Illinois Railroads Association. Debra Iams, who is a precinct committeewoman and School District 186 Subdistrict 7 board member, is also listed as an objector to Chiaro's papers.
ISBE will make rulings on the objections on Jan. 11. A ruling in favor of the objectors would remove Chiaro from the primary ballot, scheduled for March 19.
This story will be updated.
Contact Patrick M. Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Short on signatures, Chatham's Kelvin Coburn quits GOP primary
