Niemerg, Challenger Fail to Qualify as Write Ins in All Counties
Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich).
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Both Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) and his union backed challenger, school superintendent and Interim Ogden Mayor Jim Acklin failed to file as write ins in all of the counties of the sprawling 102nd District.
Niemerg was removed from the ballot earlier this month after he failed to notarize his statement of candidacy with his nominating petitions, as required by law. The challenge, The Illinoize reported, was engineered by the Illinois Education Association, a powerful teachers union.
Acklin, the longtime superintendent in St. Joseph in Champaign County and current superintendent in Chrisman, was recruited by the IEA to challenge Niemerg in a write-in contest. Acklin ran for Representative in 2016, in a hotly contested race with Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville). The district lines have since been redrawn.
(Disclosure: I worked on Acklin’s campaign in 2016 and consider him a friend. I have no role with his new campaign.)
Write-ins are required to file their candidacy in each election jurisdiction in the district, and the 102nd, which stretches from Danville to Lawrenceville, has eleven.
Niemerg failed to register in Douglas County while Acklin failed to file in Jasper County.
Though, the oversight could hurt Acklin more than Niemerg. Jasper County makes up about 11% of the primary vote while Douglas County accounted for about .5% of the primary vote in the district.
Acklin lives in Champaign County, which makes up about 7.5% of the primary vote. Niemerg lives in Effingham County, which makes up about 3% of the primary electorate.
The race will likely be won in southern counties like Crawford (16.2% of the vote), Lawrence (14% of the vote), and Clark (13.9% of the vote), which are all strongholds for conservative Freedom Caucus members, of which Niemerg is associated.
Niemerg will likely have to manage without the help of the House Republican Organization, while Acklin is counting on union bucks to back him. The Illinois Federation of Teachers endorsed the educator Tuesday, but money has not begun flowing to him yet.
Acklin declined to comment Tuesday.
