Two Illinois candidates, same name, one ballot

She’s Gott to be kidding.

A small-time race for county treasurer in southern Illinois took a wild flip final week when incumbent Ashley Gott acquired a problem — from Ashley Gott.

The upstart Gott — previously referred to as Erin Perry — modified her identify legally earlier this yr, Williamson County Clerk Amanda Barnes advised The Post.

“We have not had this happen here before,” she stated.

Illinois legislation requires that if a candidate modified his or her identify inside three years of an election, the candidate’s new identify must be adopted by the outdated on the poll.

“This used to happen fairly regularly (particularly in [Chicago] judicial races when people would adopt Irish surnames), but then state law was changed,” longtime Illinois political blogger Rich Miller wrote.

The candidates should not similar in intercourse: the incumbent Ashley Gott is a male and the challenger a feminine.

Neither Gott, nor the newer one’s dad and mom, returned calls from The Post.

“It’s an unfortunate and confusing chain of events for the voters of Williamson County,” Gott, who took workplace in 2019, told a local newspaper. “I can’t control what other people do. I can only control myself.”

“I will continue to use my finance degree and experience to be a good steward of county finances,” he added.

Gott has a bachelor’s diploma in finance from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, according to LinkedIn. Before taking public workplace, he labored for about 20 years in business loans.

But the newer Gott seems to have gotten chilly toes.

“Yesterday she did come in and withdrew as a candidate,” Barnes stated Friday.

Gott’s problem was first reported by Politico Illinois.