In an Oct. 31 post on her campaign Facebook page Halley Johnson, a 20-year-old college student from Granite City, posted a photo of herself standing proudly, smiling and holding her bound nominating papers for 112th House Democratic primary elections.

Johnson said she was running for State Rep. in the 112th district against Democratic incumbent Katie Stuart, “because the future deserves a seat at the table, not someday, not when it’s convenient, but now. This is what it looks like when the future refuses to wait its turn.”

However, the future and Johnson will have to wait at least another two years, after an Illinois State Board of Elections hearing officer ruled, and the ISBE affirmed, that Johnson submitted too few signatures on her nominating petitions.

In November, Edwardsville resident Sue Edwina Betts filed a formal objection with the ISBE, arguing that Johnson’s nominating papers were invalid “because the candidate filed petition sheets containing, on their face, fewer than 500 signatures signed by registered voters of the 112th Representative District.”

Johnson personally circulated all 26 of her nominating petition sheets. A review of those sheets by Chronicle Media determined they contained no more than 260 signatures, just over half the signatures required under Illinois election law to qualify for the March Democratic primary ballot.

“Due to that obvious insufficiency, Betts wrote, “Johnson’s name should not appear on the March 17 primary ballot.”

Johnson can appeal the ISBE’s decision to a circuit court, but that will involve additional expense, she has no campaign fund registered with the ISBE and no apparent financial means.

While getting caught short of the legally required number of nominating signatures on your petitions is usually a pitfall that novice office seekers stumble into, it can bedevil even an experienced politico.

Longtime Chicago politician George Cardenas has been a force in Southwest Side politics for decades, including 20 years as an alderman and then a term on the powerful Cook County Board of Review. But for all his experience in the electoral political process, he has found himself 273 signatures short after his nominating petitions were challenged.

The Chicago Tribune reported that Cardenas submitted approximately 12,000 signatures, but a tally completed by county clerk staff found only 4,668 valid signatures.

Cardenas, who had more than $290,000 in his campaign fund as of Sept. 30, has spent considerable time and significant money on lawyers attempting to defend his nominating papers before the Chicago Board of Elections.

With no primary challenger, Stuart is free to turn her attention to her Republican opponent in the general election, Jimmy Ford, an alderperson on the O’Fallon City Council.

Ford had no problem meeting the petition signature minimum; he filed 106 pages of nominating petitions Oct. 27 to run in the GOP primary. Among those circulating petition sheets for Ford were GOP State Rep. Amy Elik, R-111th.

Ford owns several small businesses in the Metro East area, including a vehicle repossession business. He also volunteers as a First Officer/Diver for O’Fallon Underwater Search and Recovery.

Stuart defeated a strong candidate in Jay Keeven, a city administrator and former chief of police with 35 years in law enforcement. Keeven survived an attempt by the Democrat-dominated legislature to block his candidacy and those of others through a rapidly passed law banning those who had not won a March primary contest from being on the general election ballot.

Keeven campaigned hard in 2024, but Stuart raised more than $1.8 million, while Keeven managed just over $300,000, and Stuart won by 4,240 votes, an 8.4 percent margin, the same margin and vote total she won by in 2022.