Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx will appear first on the March ballot and former 2nd Ward Ald. Bob Fioretti will take the last position for that race after a lottery Monday morning to set the ballot order for candidates in the primary election.
Lotteries were held for 29 Democratic candidates in seven countywide races; 21 vied for the top ballot position, while eight sought to have their names appear last. The lottery for state races will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Candidates competing for the same office who filed “simultaneously” at 9 a.m. Nov. 25, the first day of candidate filing, were eligible to win the top ballot spot. Candidates who filed between 4 and 5 p.m. Dec. 2, the last day of filing, were included in a separate lottery for the last spot on the ballot.
Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough pulled candidates’ names from a golden lottery basket Monday morning to determine the ballot order. Former prosecutors Bill Conway and Donna More are sandwiched between Foxx and Fioretti in the second and third spots, respectively, in the state’s attorney race.
Pat O’Brien, one of Foxx’s Republican opponents, will appear first on the Republican ballot. Christopher Pfannkuche, who ran for the position in 2016, will appear second on that ballot.
“Candidates certainly like to have their name first, but there’s something to be said having it last as well and then there’s something to be said about having it there at all,” Yarbrough said.
Lawyer Jacob Meister’s name will appear first on the ballot in the race for clerk of the circuit court. State Sen. Iris Martinez took the second spot, followed by former Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin. Board of Review Commissioner Michael Cabonargi took the last spot.
Other races in the lottery were the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioners; the 1st District Board of Review Commissioner; and 12th, 15th and 50th Ward Democratic committeeperson.
Some candidates might be kicked off the ballot before March. The deadline to file objections to a candidate’s petitions is 5 p.m. Monday.
