A hearing officer for the state Board of Elections is recommending to the board that independent candidate Mayra Macías be blocked from running for Illinois’ 4th Congressional District in the contest to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García.

The recommendation Friday determined the independent candidate did not gather enough valid signatures for her name to be placed on the November ballot. The decision is not final but marks a major blow to Macías in a race defined by García’s late decision to drop out and handpick a successor in the Democratic primary who is now challenging efforts to prevent other candidates from running in the general election.

Macías, who served on the board of Planned Parenthood Action Fund and was endorsed by the organization, called Monday for García’s protege, Democratic nominee Patty García, to drop her complaint and for the full Illinois State Board of Elections to reject the recommendation. Macías noted that the hearing officer did not give her campaign more time to prove that hundreds of signatures on her ballot petitions were legitimate.

“The hearing officer’s recommendation is what we expected, given the lack of an extension, but the final decision is not official yet — I remain committed to exploring all legal avenues possible to get my name on the ballot and give the voters of Illinois’s 4th Congressional District a choice,” Macías said in a statement. “Regardless of the outcome at the board hearing, I will not stop fighting for my community.”

A progressive, Macías and anyone else looking to run as an independent faced daunting odds in their efforts to make it onto the general election ballot.

Illinois state law required her and other independents to collect 10,816 valid signatures, a threshold far higher than the hundreds of signatures needed to qualify for the Democratic primary ballot. Still, Macías, Lyons Mayor Chris Getty and Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, each submitted 17,304 signatures, the maximum number allowed.

But in challenging how many of Macías’ signatures were legitimate, only 10,113 were deemed valid by Joseph A. Craven, the Illinois State Board of Elections hearing officer who handled the case.

Craven’s recommendation and another by the board’s general counsel, expected to be released later this week, are not binding. The board is expected to consider the case next Tuesday, and the board is free to deviate from the recommendations.

The signature challenge against Macías is the latest turn in the 4th District race, which began when Patty García, the congressman’s former chief of staff who is of no relation to him, secured the Democratic nomination after the outgoing congressman announced his retirement just as signatures were due to make the primary ballot. She was the only candidate who was made aware of his decision with enough time to collect signatures.

The maneuvers set off a flurry of criticism and independent bids by Macías, Sigcho-Lopez and Getty. Then those denunciations intensified after individuals tied to the congressman and Patty García challenged the petition signatures of Macías and Sigcho-Lopez, who argued that, while legal, the challenges amounted to strong-arm tactics that disenfranchise voters and harm the outgoing congressman’s progressive reputation.

Sigcho-Lopez said Monday that he has not received any hearing officer recommendations in his case. But he argued the recommendation for Macías was the product of an effort “to maintain the status quo within the Democratic establishment.”

“My message to the board members is to hear the residents of the 4th Congressional District. It’s obvious that we have between us over 30,000 people that believe we should be on the ballot,” he said.

A decision from the body to allow Sigcho-Lopez and Macías on the ballot would prove the state’s politics are “an alternative to Trump,” Sigcho-Lopez said.

Getty is not facing a ballot signature challenge.

Craven’s recommendation cited an array of issues with the signatures Macías collected. Some signatures were deemed “not genuine” or were from “out of district,” while others were determined to not come from registered voters.

Dozens were struck because they came from petition collectors who broke the rules by collecting for multiple candidates at once, and over 500 were rejected because they were collected by a woman who, on the petition sheets, cited an address that evidence shows she does not live at.

Macías collected affidavits proving the validity of hundreds of signatures, but still ended just short of the required number. Her campaign said, days after the deadline, that it had continued to collect affidavits and had met the threshold to get on the ballot.

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(Tribune reporter Gregory Royal Pratt contributed.)

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