To find out more about the process of replacing Scott Lee Cohen as the lieutenant governor nominee, we dug into the Democratic State Central Committee bylaws (PDF) today. We also caught up with Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd Ward), who is a 4th Congressional District committeeman, and former state legislator William Marovitz, who serves as a 9th Congressional District committeeman. Here's what we found.

The by-laws set out the committee's endorsement process, but don't specifically address the issue of replacing a nominee.  When handling endorsements, the committee holds at least two public hearings at which the candidates can make presentations. Finally, at another public meeting, the individual committeemen each pick their favored nominee.  If one candidate gets more than 60 percent of the weighted vote, they are endorsed.

It appears that the committee's renomination process will not be identical to the endorsement system, for the simple reason that there is no predetermined batch of candidates. But it will share some similar guidelines.

The individual committeemen will each nominate his or her choice at a public meeting (thereby dispelling our concern that the votes might not be on the record). The next scheduled meeting is March 15, but House Speaker Michael Madigan, who serves as the committee chair, could call a special meeting to deal with the lieutenant governor nomination. If he does, the party must give at least 5 days written notice to the entire party membership about the location and content of the discussion.

Both Munoz and Marovitz suspect that a final vote won't be held until the Illinois State Board of Elections Commission (ISBEC) certifies this final vote tallies from this year's committee races. The reason for that is two-fold:

- First, the voting process is weighted; committee members get one "vote" for each ballot cast in his or her congressional district in the primary. (WBEZ Sam Huzdik reviewed those details here.)  Therefore, the official vote totals are needed to determine the weight of each committeeman's choice.

- Second, some committee seats changed hands last week. If the vote is held after the results are finalized, those new committee members can take part in the process. ISBEC's final certification deadline is March 5.

Marovitz said that his criteria for selecting a replacement is simple: pick the person who will be the biggest asset to the Democratic Party ticket.