SPRINGFIELD – In what is likely to be a first, the Illinois Board of Elections is going through nominating petition pages upon which Republican U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Diane Pahlke glued leaves, grass and bird droppings.
Pahlke's reason for attaching these natural visual aids?
"The mud, grass & leaves & bird signatures represent the bad decisions that were made from developers & politicians that stole from our land":
Pahlke's attachments occupy several different pages of petitions, but included are page after page of petition signatures from which she omitted her own name as circulator, page numbers and the required documentation by a notary public.
Pahlke explains in a handwritten note that she gathered the signatures – from persons in Wilmette to Wheaton to Kankakee and Chester, Illinois – by herself. The handwritten note was signed by a notary public.
Although several persons have viewed Pahlke's petitions, no objections have been filed. The objection deadline is December 7th at 5:00 PM. Barring objections being filed, Pahlke's petitions could place her on the March 15th, 2016 primary ballot.