SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Green Party says its will fight attempts by Democrats to get its statewide candidates tossed off the November ballot.

During a news conference Tuesday, Green gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney said the challenges to the more than 39,000 signatures collected will deprive voters of a choice come November.

"Here we see the Blagojevich campaign, despite its multimillion-dollar monetary advantage, running scared and using lowdown tactics to try to deprive people of that choice," said Whitney, a Carbondale attorney.

Green Party officials met with staff from the Illinois State Board of Elections on Tuesday to begin the process of reviewing challenges filed by the Democrats. A final decision on whether the Greens will remain on the ballot must be reached by late August when the state board must certify the ballot for the general election.

Under Illinois election law, new political parties must gather at least 25,000 signatures to get on the ballot. Most groups collect more names than needed to head off potential challenges.

The Green Party has filed a motion to have the objections dismissed. The state elections board will hold a hearing on the motion next week.

Sheila Nix, a Blagojevich campaign spokeswoman, downplayed the challenge.

"We just think if you're going to be on the ballot, you need to have valid signatures," Nix said. "Everyone has to play by the same rules. It's not like an unfair targeting. If they have the valid signatures, then it's not a problem."

Whitney said the Democratic Party operatives identified a laundry list of people as unregistered voters including two Peoria city council members and several Rockford area ministers.

"Most of these objections were not done in good faith," he said. "They were done randomly."

As well as trying to knock the Green party off the ballot, the attacks also are geared towards depleting the fledgling party's finances, Whitney said.

The Greens are running a full slate of statewide candidates for the first time this year.

Matt Adrian can be reached at matt.adrian@lee.net or 789-0865.