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RI Co. Officials Rule Schwartz Won't Be on Ballot

Michelle O'Neill
/
WVIK News
Three photos from Rock Island County's Electoral Board hearing on Doug House's (bottom right) objections to Jack Schwartz's (top 2nd from left) candidacy

Jack Schwartz from Davenport cannot run for Rock Island County State's Attorney. That was the decision this morning by the county's Electoral Board. It threw out 30 pages of the petition he filed to become a candidate.

Doug House, Chair of the Rock Island County Democrats, objected to Schwartz's petition in part because it incorrectly listed who gathered the signatures.

After the hearing, Karen Kinney, County Clerk and chair of the electoral board, announced its ruling to throw out many of the signatures on Schwartz's petition.
Kinney is referring to pages where "Jack Schwartz" is typed as the circulator of the petition, but his wife Amy and another person signed the pages.

Schwartz1.mp3
Schwartz says they didn't base the ruling on the argument that I don't live in the state given the constitution, but on failure to comply with the suggested forms on my circulator petitions. However, they're suggested not mandatory.

The Illinois constitution only requires candidates for state's attorney to be U.S. citizens and licensed to practice law in the state. But House says state law also requires candidates to be registered voters in Illinois for six months prior to an election.

After the hearing, Schwartz said he'll take the case to court, with hopes of getting his name on the March primary ballot. 

Additional Audio
Here are the audio recordings from the hearing. It's spilt into two parts due to limits on posting large files and "raw" or unedited. Schwartz and House both requested copies from WVIK News. On 12/17/2015, Schwartz filed a civil suit to challenge the Rock Island County Electoral Board's decision. 

HOUSEschwartzHEARING1.mp3
First half of the hearing
HOUSEschwartzHEARING2.mp3
Second half of the hearing

Officially, Michelle's title for 28 years was WVIK News Editor. She did everything there is to do in the newsroom and whatever was needed around the radio station. She also served as Acting News Director from September 2023 - January 2024.
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