Objections filed Monday with the Knox County Clerk’s Office challenge the nominating petitions of five Republican candidates running in the March 2026 primary, alleging the petitions either have forged, duplicate, or otherwise invalid signatures.
The objections were filed against incumbent County Clerk Scott Erickson, treasurer candidates Jerrie Ann Walters and Janet Windish, and county board candidates Anthony Weiss and Tammy Weiss in District 1.
The objections will go before an electoral board, with the hearings scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. Friday in the Knox County courthouse. Per state statute, the electoral board will be comprised of State’s Attorney Ashley Worby, Circuit Clerk Mary Ostrander, and Clerk Erickson as chair.
The Clerk’s Office confirmed to TSPR that Erickson will recuse himself from the hearing over the objection to his nomination papers.
"When the Electoral Board handles the objection involving my candidacy, I will recuse my position on the Electoral Board and an alternate County Officer will fill that seat. Once my objection has been dealt with, I will return to the Electoral Board and resume Chair duties," Erickson said.
Objections to clerk and treasurer filings
Several of the challenges accuse candidates of turning in signatures that appear to have been written by the same person.
In the objection to Scott Erickson, who has served as the Knox County clerk since 2004, Pamela Davidson said several signatures on two of Erickson’s petition sheets appear to be in the same handwriting. She’s asking the electoral board to compare disputed signatures across official voter files.
Erickson is not facing a primary opponent on the Republican side, but Democrat Johan Henriksen has filed for the seat.
Davidson, a Knox County board member and chair of the Knox County Democrats, filed similar objections against Jerrie Ann Walters and Janet Windish, the Republican candidates looking to unseat Treasurer Robin Davis, a Democrat who has been in office since 2002. Davidson again points to groups of signatures that appear to be written by the same person in their petitions.
The objection against Walters also goes further, accusing two circulators of submitting entire sheets Davidson claims were forged by the same person.
Davidson claims that as a result of “the pattern of fraud,” all of the petition sheets for Erickson, Walters, and Windish should be discarded, thereby removing them from the primary ballot.
Another objection against Windish was filed by Walters, who laid out additional concerns about her primary opponent’s paperwork.
Walters said Windish left key parts of her statement of candidacy blank, incorrectly listed her residence, and submitted multiple duplicate signatures, including some that allegedly show up on other Republican candidates’ petitions.
County board challenges
Two candidates running for District 1 on the county board face nearly identical objections that call into question whether the candidates gathered enough valid signatures to stay on the ballot.
In her objection to Tammy Weiss’ nomination papers, Darla Krejci flags several signatures she says should not count. That includes two people who Krejci said had already signed a Democratic candidate’s petitions, making their signatures on Weiss’ invalid. Krejci’s objection also argues one signer of Weiss’ petition lives in District 3, not District 1, and another who isn’t a registered voter.
A separate objection filed by Ronald Erickson makes the same claims against Anthony Weiss, who is seeking a second term on the board.
A total of five candidates have filed for District 1. In addition to Tammy Weiss and Anthony Weiss, that includes incumbent Democrat Cheryl Nache, Democrat Jaclyn Smith-Esters, and Republican Dylan Sage.
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