By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Congressional candidate David Gill is going to court in hopes of getting on the ballot.
The Illinois State Board of Elections has ruled the Bloomington physician fell short of the nearly 10,754 needed to run as an independent. More than 2,000 of the signatures he turned in were ruled invalid.
Gill has filed a lawsuit in which he says the signature requirements to run as an independent are “severe and overly burdensome.” Independent candidates have to get nearly 15 times the number of signatures that a Democrat or Republican has to get.
Gill ran for Congress as a Democrat several times before and is seeking to challenge 13th District U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, in November. Gill narrowly lost to Davis in 2012.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.
