Handwriting Expert To Testify In Rush Petition Challenge

CHICAGO, IL — A third-year University of Chicago law student running for Congress plans to bring in a handwriting expert to testify on signatures on Congressman Bobby Rush’s nomination petitions for the upcoming Illinois Democratic primary. An evidentiary hearing is set for Friday, Jan. 3 at the Thompson Center before the Illinois State Officers Electoral Board. Rush has smiled a motion to dismiss.

Sarah Gad is hoping to boot the long-serving, Democratic congressman off the ballot based on Rush’s petition sheets, which she maintains demonstrate "a clear pattern of fraud or substantial noncompliance with mandatory provisions of the Election Code." Gad is one of three candidates running against Rush in Illinois’s 1st Congressional District.”

Gad claims that Rush’s petitions violate Illinois election statutes and are replete with the errors — misnumbered pages, missing dates, signature inconsistencies — that if made by candidate running for the school board or other local office thrown off the ballot.

The congressman has dismissed Gad’s allegations, stating she “is desperately throwing out ridiculous requests” based on minor errors that don’t affect the integrity of his nominating petitions.

A records review took place last month. Subpeonas were served Dec. 30 to Rush’s notary public Darva Watkins, and circulator Harvey Cook, who gathered signatures to place the congressman’s name on the primary ballot.

Gad plans to call Watkins, whom Gad accuses of acting inappropriately in her duties as a notary public. The challenge sites inconsistent addresses for petition circulators, which Gad claims fail to match up with addresses on their ID, voter registration or both. Gad also states that some sheets appear to have been notarized absent of the circulator’s absence and show invalid addresses.

Cook is expected to be questioned on why his signature appears to be different on various petition sheets and not matching the signature on his voter registration. To bolster her claims of tampering, Gad plans to bring in forensic handwriting expert Warren Spencer, who will testify on certain petition sheets circulated by Cook and others.

Even if the outcome goes Gad’s way, Rush’s legal council is likely to be appealed in Cook County Circuit Court. A final decision will be made before the board at a future date.

Illinois’s 1st Congressional District spans Cook and Will counties, including Chicago South Side neighborhoods and south suburbs, encompassing all or parts of Evergreen Park, Oak Lawn, Alsip, Crestwood, Oak Forest, Orland, Tinley, Frankfort, Elwood and Manhattan.