Scott Lee Cohen may have collected a hundred thousand signatures that he didn’t need.
The now independent candidate for governor filed over 133,000 voter signatures as part of his bid to unseat Gov. Pat Quinn. That’s more than 100,000 more than is required by state law, and may end-up being way more than needed as well.
Quinn’s campaign is content to let the Democratic County Chairman’s Association check and possibly challenge Cohen’s paperwork.
It’s common for political rivals to challenge the others’ paperwork. And it’s quite common for that tactic to work and knock a candidate out of the race.
But former state elections boss, and current University of Illinois at Springfield professor, Ron Michaelson said the sheer number of Cohen’s signatures has rendered that tactic pointless.
“Anyone who has any ‘Illinois smarts’ in politics understands that the more signatures you file the less likely it is that someone will object.”
Michaelson's comments were featured in a June 23, 2010, article by Illinois Statehouse News.
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