The Knox County Officers Electoral Board met for just eight minutes Friday afternoon and scheduled the next step in challenges to five Republican candidates’ petitions: a Nov. 21 session to compare 12 disputed nomination-petition signatures against official voter registration records.
The six objections affect County Clerk Scott Erickson, treasurer candidates Jerrie Ann Walters and Janet Windish (two objections each), and County Board District 1 candidates Anthony R. Weiss and Tammy Weiss.
The brief hearing began at 3:04 p.m. Nov. 14 in a second-floor courtroom at the Knox County Courthouse. Only two of the three board members were present: Erickson (chair) and State’s Attorney Ashley Worby. Circuit Clerk Mary Ostrander was absent.
Attorney James Greenwood of Greenwood Law in Rock Island appeared for objectors Pam Davidson, Darla Krejci and Ronald Erickson and filed motions requesting subpoenas.
The board set a “binder check” for 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, at the courthouse. At that same session the board will also decide whether to issue the requested subpoenas and to whom, Worby told WGIL after the hearing.
During the binder check the three-person electoral board will pull voter registration cards for the 12 challenged signatures and determine whether they match the signatures on the candidates’ petitions.
“We’ll pull the voter registration record for each of those 12 lines, find their signature card, and compare it line-by-line to the petition signature,” Erickson told WGIL after the hearing. “We’re just deciding whether the signatures match what’s on file with the election authority.”
At least one additional hearing will follow the binder check so objectors and candidates can present evidence before the board rules on whether to strike signatures or remove anyone from the March 2026 primary ballot.
Related: Objections filed against 5 Knox County GOP candidates (Nov. 13)
