Befing first to file is no guarantee of top ballot position

The doors are open at the Illinois State Board of Elections in Springfield and the candidates (or their surrogates, if the candidates are lucky enough to have them) are starting to come in from the cold and file their carefully collected nomination petitions.

The mere filing of petitions does not guarantee a candidate a spot on the March 18, 2014 primary ballot. Some of the candidates in line this morning will be knocked off the ballot because of successful challenges to their papers.

Nor is getting to the counter first a guarantee of getting the coveted top line on the primary ballot in any given race. It has been proved that being first on a list of candidates provides some statistical 'bump' for that candidate -- not always enough to overcome other factors, mind you, but candidates understandably jostle for every possible advantage.

And, with respect to the top position on the ballot, therein lies the problem: Everyone who was in line when the doors opened this morning is eligible to be on the top line in their particular race; a lottery will have to be held to determine the exact ballot order.

Thus, today, I can't tell you who will be first on the ballot in any given race -- but, during the course of the day, I will try and update you on candidates who have filed, with a particular emphasis on those who haven't been mentioned here previously.

We'll start, then, with Assistant State's Attorney Nyshana K. Sumner, who has filed this morning as a candidate in the 2nd Judicial Subcircuit.

Sumner has been licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 2004. I can't find a campaign website for her yet, but, if the name sounds familiar, you may have seen her mentioned in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin recently, in the "Spotlight" column, talking about her volunteering for this year's CBA Christmas Spirits Show, "The Merry Old Land of Lawz."