Village of Glenview Elections: First Day to Submit Petitions

Filing for a Public Office, big or small, involves some level of personal risk. There is reputational risk, financial risk, family & friend risk. Making your positions and opinions known for your neighbors to scrutinize can be hard.

Today was an important day for our community. Today was the first day that prospective candidates for April 6, 2021, Municipal Elections, which include Township and Village officers, School Board members, Park District Commissioners, and Library Boards across the State of Illinois, could file their intention to seek elected office.

In Cook County, there were four drop-off locations for petitions & related paperwork today. If you were in line at one of the drop-off locations by 8 am, you were provided a 'lottery' ticket; more on that shortly. The date and time that your petitions are received impact your ballot position. For example, for School Board Members, if there are three available board seats but five candidates, if there is only one of the five candidates in line at 8 am today (first filing day), then that prospective candidate gets the top line on the ballot for that election. There is an unwritten rule on ballot creation, and some statistical evidence supports the hypothesis that voters select the top ballot position candidate at higher than the expected statistical average. Thus, an 8 am line at the Petition drop-off locations.

If two or even five candidates for the same office are in line at 8 am on Day 1, they will receive a lottery ticket. For the April 2021 Consolidated Municipal Election, the lottery for simultaneous petition drop-offs (8 am today) will be held virtually on December 28, 2020, at 11 am.

For District 34, all four candidates (three incumbents and one newcomer) will have their ballot positions decided at that time. Other candidates could yet file but will follow these candidates in position #5 and so on.

For High School District 225, Glenbrook North, and Glenbrook South, nine candidates filed today.

In Cook County, by 4 pm today, a total of 454 prospective candidates across 143 School Districts (including 152 at 8 am). Now the objections begin. A story on objections another time. I salute these citizens for being courageous. Our community is better for it.