M06, Greens get bad info from County Clerk

In the 2004 elections Julie Samuels (Green-Oak Park) ran against Rep. Calvin Giles (D-8th).

Since Samuels obtained over 5% of the vote the Green Party was entitled to elect township committeemen in the district. So the Greens fielded candidates in Berwyn, Oak Park and Proviso. Art Kazar was the Green candidate for committeeman in Proviso Township.

I assumed Kazar only needed one vote from one person in Proviso Township to be elected. It wasn't this simple.

I spoke to Bruce Samuels, Green activist and husband of Julie Samuels. It turns out the only Proviso residents allowed to vote for the Green Committeeman were the people of Precinct 77, the one precinct in the 8th Legislative District.

This rule wasn't explained to the Green Party in advance, so the party didn't recruit anyone to vote for Kazar there.

Also, the County Clerk didn't print Green ballots. Instead the Greens had to rely on the touch screen ballots. However, if the touchscreens weren't working at the precinct Greens were disenfranchised.

Samuels is the Green candidate for Lt. Governor in 2006. Rich Whitney is the nominee for governor running against Rod Blagojevich and Judy Baar Topinka.