Hearings on 2027 ballot objections start Monday. The Board's full list still isn't reachable, and no ward challenges have been reported

The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners begins hearing objections to 2027 candidates' nominating papers on Monday, a Board spokesperson told Block Club Chicago. The Board said Monday that it would post the full list of objections on its website Wednesday, after the election. We still couldn't check it: our last request to chicagoelections.gov, at 9:39 a.m. Thursday, returned an access error, as every request has since Monday.

Why it matters: an objection the Board sustains takes a candidate off the Feb. 23 ballot. Coverage so far is about the mayor's race. For the 50 Council races, the clerk, the treasurer and the police district councils, we have found no reporting on objections, which doesn't mean none were filed.

This follows Wednesday's story.

What's new since Wednesday

• One mayoral candidate unchallenged. George Cardenas received no objections and will be on the ballot, Block Club reported. Most of the other candidates, including Mayor Brandon Johnson, face objections to their petitions or other parts of their candidacy.
• The two-offices challenge. Attorney William Quinlan renewed his objections to Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley and Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, arguing they can't run for mayor while holding other offices; a Cook County judge dismissed his lawsuit on the same grounds in October, Block Club reported. Giannoulias's campaign lawyer called the new challenge "totally frivolous." Pappas said she won't formally announce until the challenges are settled. All three won their races Tuesday, as we reported.

The challenge to the Mayor

Former state Sen. Rickey Hendon, filing for Willie Wilson's campaign, alleges photocopied signatures and other defects, and said he counted 4,967 valid signatures against the 12,500 required, NBC Chicago and the Sun-Times reported. That count is the objector's, not the Board's. Johnson's campaign says it is confident it has more than enough signatures, NBC reported. It is the first challenge to an incumbent Chicago mayor's petitions since 2007, according to Block Club.

On our mayor's race page, Johnson's filing has 31,904 lines on a complete copy of 3,301 pages. That is a line count, not a count of valid signatures; it can't show whether a line is a photocopy or a signer from outside Chicago. Only the Board's records check can.

What our records add for ward races

Our objections page still lists none, because it is filled from what the Board publishes. It will update when the list is reachable.

Meanwhile, our Council candidate list shows 140 people the Board lists as candidates, as of Oct. 30. Ten incumbents had no challenger on that list: in the 4th, 10th, 11th, 15th, 21st, 39th, 40th, 41st, 47th and 50th wards. A candidate with no opponent can still face an objection, but there's no rival on the ballot to benefit from one.

How the hearings work

Under the Board's 2027 election pamphlet, the Board sits as the Electoral Board to hear each objection. Where signatures are disputed, staff compare challenged lines with voter registration records, and either side can contest the results. A losing side can ask a Cook County judge to review the ruling.

What's next

• Mon., Nov. 9: hearings begin. The same morning, the Board's leaders testify on its 2027 budget at the Council's budget hearing, after Tuesday's ballot shortages; our story on that.
• Dec. 17: last day for candidates to withdraw; the Board certifies the ballot.
• Feb. 23: the municipal election; a runoff on April 6 if no mayoral candidate wins a majority.