By John Gregory/Illinois Radio Network

CHICAGO – A Republican presidential candidate’s place of birth is basis of a challenge to his Illinois ballot petitions, but an election law expert predicts it won’t go anywhere.

The objection to the petitions of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.) was filed by Lawrence Joyce of Poplar Grove, who argues Cruz can’t be on the primary ballot in Illinois because he was born in Canada, even though his mother was an American citizen.

“Ted Cruz is a citizen of the U.S., but that’s by statute, and being a citizen by statute does not constitute being a natural born citizen,” Joyce said.

Joyce said he isn’t objecting on behalf of any Cruz’s opponents for the nomination, though he personally supports Ben Carson in the primary race. He also expressed skepticism over President Barack Obama’s status as a natural-born citizen, despite the release of Obama’s birth certificate showing he was born in Hawaii, and his mother was an American citizen.

Election law expert Michael Dorf of the law firm Adducci, Dorf, Lehner, Mitchell & Blankenship, said Cruz does meet the constitutional requirements for presidential candidates, and believes Joyce’s objection is dead on arrival.

“Ted Cruz is a natural-born citizen,” Dorf said. “I think that the simplest way to think about this is a natural-born citizen is someone who did not have to go through a naturalization process to become a citizen.”

Dorf said citizenship questions have come up with two other candidates: 1964 Republican nominee Barry Goldwater was born in Arizona before it became a state, and the 2008 Republican nominee, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Az.), was born in the Panama Canal Zone.