News reports said that former Attorney General and Republican candidate for governor Jim Ryan wanted the coveted last spot who vastly out-polled my Libertarian Party candidacy but succumbed to serial liar Rod Blagojevich chickened out today.

Again.

As I have shared previously, when I was in grad school at the University of Michigan, I found a paper than analyzed the impact of ballot order on election results.

The researchers looked at paper ballots for a Michigan city near Detroit. In races of six or more, first place was worth an extra 10%. Second and last place on the ballot were worth another 5%.

There are seven people running for the Republican nomination for governor.

Worst place on the ballot was next to last.

That’s where Jim Ryan ended up.

He blinked at 4:18 PM this afternoon.

Andy McKenna filed seven minutes later.

We won’t know who gets the justifiably coveted first place on the ballot until the lottery, but we know that McKenna didn’t blink and file before any other GOP gubernatorial candidate.

Inexplicably, political consultant Dan Proft filed even earlier than Ryan at 3:26.

There definitely was an impact in elections with six or more people on the ballot.

Not so much impact in contests in which there were few candidates.

Having said that, appearing first on the ballot for the first office on the ballot might impress voters.

They might just think the first person was the incumbent.

In Grafton Township’s Republican primary ballot, incumbent Township Supervisor John Rossi will appear second, below challenger Linda Moore.

Moore came within a couple of handfuls of votes of winning a seat on the Huntley School District 158 board of education in 2007. In fact, I thought she had won after looking at election night returns, but absentee votes put her slightly behind.

For township trustee there are six candidates, so ballot position might make a difference. Here is the result of the ballot order lottery:

1.   Gerry McMahon
2.   Barbara Murphy
3.   Betty Zirk
4.   Don Glogovsky
5.   Lois Brothers
6.   Rob LaPorta

Winning first position was Gerry McMahon, an ally of Linda Moore. Her other supporter, Don Glogovsky, drew a less favorable spot—4th. The others are incumbents.

Still the study showed the worst ballot position to be next to last. Incumbent Louis Brothers has that distinction.

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Linda Moore is the woman on the right above who is just about to speak on the stage at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital’s intermediate care walk-in facility located across on Congress Parkway across from the new Pingree Road Metra Train Station. She resurfaced the idea to use wrist radios for elderly and youth who might walk away from home.

There definitely was an impact in elections with six or more people on the ballot.

Not so much impact in contests in which there were few candidates.

Having said that, appearing first on the ballot for the first office on the ballot might impress voters.

They might just think the first person was the incumbent.

In Grafton Township’s Republican primary ballot, incumbent Township Supervisor John Rossi will appear second, below challenger Linda Moore.

Moore came within a couple of handfuls of votes of winning a seat on the Huntley School District 158 board of education in 2007. In fact, I thought she had won after looking at election night returns, but absentee votes put her slightly behind.

For township trustee there are six candidates, so ballot position might make a difference. Here is the result of the ballot order lottery:

1.   Gerry McMahon
2.   Barbara Murphy
3.   Betty Zirk
4.   Don Glogovsky
5.   Lois Brothers
6.   Rob LaPorta

Winning first position was Gerry McMahon, an ally of Linda Moore. Her other supporter, Don Glogovsky, drew a less favorable spot—4th. The others are incumbents.

Still the study showed the worst ballot position to be next to last. Incumbent Louis Brothers has that distinction.

= = = = =
Linda Moore is the woman on the right above who is just about to speak on the stage at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital’s intermediate care walk-in facility located across on Congress Parkway across from the new Pingree Road Metra Train Station. She resurfaced the idea to use wrist radios for elderly and youth who might walk away from home.

Here are the results:

1.    Mark Guerra

2.    Nels Sorensen

3.    Linda Lance

4.    Lowell Cutsforth

5.    Joe Powalowski

It was a foregone conclusion that appointed incumbent Powalowski would be last because he did not file on the first day, as did the others.

That meant he did not qualify for the lottery for first place.

The irony is that newcomer Guerra drew the first spot over the three elected incumbents.

Word on the street is that pressure was put on Guerra to withdraw and now he has the best spot on the ballot.

That’s ironic.

And helpful.

I read a study in graduate school at the University of Michigan that examined ballot order. It concluded that in races of 6-7 or more, first place was worth an extra 10% with second and last place worth an extra 5%. Worst place on the ballot was next to last.

Of course, this race has only five contenders.

There is no contest for the Supervisor, Assessor, Road Commissioner and Clerk.

Here are the results:

1.    Mark Guerra

2.    Nels Sorensen

3.    Linda Lance

4.    Lowell Cutsforth

5.    Joe Powalowski

It was a foregone conclusion that appointed incumbent Powalowski would be last because he did not file on the first day, as did the others.

That meant he did not qualify for the lottery for first place.

The irony is that newcomer Guerra drew the first spot over the three elected incumbents.

Word on the street is that pressure was put on Guerra to withdraw and now he has the best spot on the ballot.

That’s ironic.

And helpful.

I read a study in graduate school at the University of Michigan that examined ballot order. It concluded that in races of 6-7 or more, first place was worth an extra 10% with second and last place worth an extra 5%. Worst place on the ballot was next to last.

Of course, this race has only five contenders.

There is no contest for the Supervisor, Assessor, Road Commissioner and Clerk.