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

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.

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.