Nearly Half of Petition Signatures in Chicago-Area Races Fail to Hold Up, New Data Shows

Only about half of the signatures on petitions for Chicago and Cook County races matched a registered voter in the right district, according to a new analysis from Petition Validator.

The analysis covers 238,442 signatures on 83 petition drives that campaigns checked in Petition Validator as they collected them in 2026, for school board, municipal, and aldermanic races, including petitions now being filed for Chicago's February 2027 municipal election. Filing closes October 26, and objections are due November 2.

Key findings

About half of signatures are valid. Across all 238,442 signatures, 52% matched a registered voter in the district.

Wrong addresses are the top problem. Nearly one signature in four (24%) had an address that did not line up with the voter file: the name matched a voter registered somewhere else, most likely because the voter moved, or a relative registered at that address. Signatures that did not match the voter's signature on file were 6%, and signers registered outside the district were 4%.

One in ten signers could not be found on the voter rolls at all (10%).

Candidates collect nearly two and a half times what the law requires, a median of 138% more than the minimum. Even with that cushion, half the drives did not yet have enough valid signatures to clear the minimum.

The last-minute rush produces the weakest signatures. Four in ten signatures were checked in the final two weeks before the filing deadline. Signatures checked in the final week were 41% valid, compared with 51% to 64% in the weeks before.

School board petitions fare worst. The median school board drive was 39% valid, compared with 56% for municipal drives. Nearly one in five matched school board signatures came from a voter registered outside the district.

Chicago 2027: the rush is already under way

Petitions for Chicago's February 2027 municipal election show the same pattern. Across 36 drives and 167,363 signatures checked so far, 57% were valid. Address problems are just as common: 24% of signatures had an address that did not line up with the voter file.

Campaigns checked more than 23,000 signatures through Petition Validator in the week of October 13, and nearly 18,000 more in the first three days of the following week. A typical week in September saw 2,000 to 5,000.

"Most campaigns don't find out which signatures are bad until someone files an objection. The biggest problem isn't fraud. It's people who moved and never updated their registration. If you know that while you're still collecting, you can fix it." — Tom Goldenberg, founder, Petition Validator

About the data

The figures cover 83 petition drives for Chicago and Cook County races that campaigns checked in Petition Validator while collecting signatures in 2026, including petitions for the February 2027 Chicago municipal election. Petitions for the March 2026 Illinois primary, which were loaded after filing, are excluded. A signature counts as valid when it matched a registered voter inside the district and was not flagged for a signature mismatch. Timing figures use the date each page was uploaded; drives for the February 2027 election were still collecting at the time of analysis. The data reflects campaigns that used Petition Validator and is not a census of every Chicago petition. No individual voter data is published.

Check your own petition

Petition Validator checks petition signatures against the voter file as campaigns collect them, so you know your real count before filing, and it produces sheet-by-sheet objection reports for electoral board hearings. Pricing starts at $0.25 per signature with no minimum. Get started at petitionvalidator.com.

Media contact: Tom Goldenberg, tom@victorywaves.com