Progressive Chicago Ald. Byron Sigcho-López has filed a lawsuit against the Illinois State Board of Elections and its members in a last-ditch effort to gain a spot on the 4th Congressional District ballot.
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The long-shot lawsuit filed Friday comes after the board determined late last month that Sigcho-López and another progressive who had been looking to run as an independent, Mayra Macías, did not collect enough signatures to appear on the November ballot. But Sigcho-López argued Monday that the decision was based on unfair rules that must be struck down.
“We spent weeks collecting signatures from thousands of voters only to have them challenged one by one in a rushed process where we had basically no time to defend them. That’s not protecting elections,” Sigcho-López said in a statement. “That’s protecting the status quo and rigging the system for party bosses.”
The lawsuit calls for Sigcho-López to be included on the ballot and for state law governing independent runs for office to be declared unconstitutional. It is only the latest chapter in an unusual race so far defined by backroom political tactics.
The race began when Patty García secured the Democratic nomination after outgoing U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García announced his retirement just as signatures were due to make the primary ballot. Patty García, who served as the congressman’s chief of staff but is not related to him, was the only candidate who was made aware of his decision with enough time to collect signatures.
The maneuvers sparked criticism and independent bids that included Sigcho-López, Macías and Lyons Mayor Chris Getty.
Then individuals tied to the congressman and Patty García challenged the petition signatures of Macías and Sigcho-López. State election authorities determined late last month that neither would be allowed on the ballot, despite both submitting the maximum number of signatures allowed, over 17,000.
The two progressive independents faced a daunting challenge: collect nearly 11,000 valid signatures, far more than the 697 that Patty García needed to make the ballot in the Democratic primary, and respond in just days to the García-backed challenges that invalidated submitted signatures.
On Monday, Sigcho-López said his lawsuit, filed alongside 4th Congressional District resident and Sigcho-López supporter José Guerra, is about “more than one campaign.”
“It’s about whether the people of the 4th District get a real choice in this election or whether political insiders get to decide elections before a single vote is cast,” he wrote in his statement. “Our democracy belongs to the people, not party bosses. Thousands of voters stood with us, and they deserve to have their voices heard.”
Macías told the Tribune she is reviewing Sigcho-López’s lawsuit with attorneys and considering filing a petition to join it. But she acknowledged that the federal lawsuit would give her only a slim chance of getting her name on the ballot.
“There’s a world in which it could, but that is unlikely,” she said.
Still, fighting the Illinois State Board of Elections’ decision in court could clear a path for future independents to run, Macías said.
“Because we saw in this process that it is fundamentally unfair to have such different thresholds for independent candidates,” she said.
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Matt Dietrich, a spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Elections, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Kait Sweeney, a campaign spokesperson for Patty García, also declined to comment.