Almost 90 percent of the Yes for Independent Maps petition entries tossed as invalid by the Illinois State Board of Elections this month were for people who were either not registered to vote or weren't registered to vote at the address shown on the petitions, official documents show. The group is attempting to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot to reform the state's indisputably hyper-partisan legislative-redistricting process.

Yet the state's media, led by the Chicago Tribune editorial page, have focused on problems with signatures that don't match up to voter-registration cards. It's either a gross misunderstanding of the situation or a deliberate deception.

There were lots of losers during the state legislative session that ended last month. But there were a few winners, so let's take a look at them.

First up: Republican gubernatorial nominee Bruce Rauner.

Never before has a political party nominated a gubernatorial candidate who had more impact on a legislative session than Rauner did this year. The gazillionaire's unlimited supply of money and his constant threats to "shake up Springfield" clearly put legislators of both parties on edge all spring - even before he won the primary.

There's an old Statehouse saying that House Speaker Michael Madigan cares mostly about two votes each Democratic legislator makes: one to re-elect him speaker, and the other for his chamber's operating rules.

Some, such as Representative Elaine Nekritz, have gotten away with voting against Madigan's rules. Nekritz explained to Madigan why she voted against them, and he was impressed with her thoughtfulness. She's since moved up the ladder to become one of the House's hardest-working members who also carries some major legislation.

But nobody ever gets away with voting against Madigan for speaker.

I commissioned a We Ask America poll on April 21 of the races for Illinois governor, comptroller, and treasurer. But I forgot to put the candidates' party labels in the poll's questions. The results came out very weird.

Bruce Rauner led Governor Pat Quinn 49-38 in that poll. Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka trounced Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon by an astounding 56-29 margin. And Representative Tom Cross led Senator Mike Frerichs in the state treasurer's race 33-20.

The Topinka crosstabs were bizarre. The Republican was leading among Democrats 55-30, ahead in Chicago 57-23, and among African Americans 55-22. No way.

Garbage in, garbage out, as they say, so I dumped the poll and ran a new one on April 27. This time we identified the candidates' party affiliations.

The results were strikingly different.