UPDATE 1-Illinois judge to decide jurisdiction over Cruz eligibility complaint

(Adds quotes, background on other cases on Cruz's eligibility)
By Fiona Ortiz
CHICAGO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - An Illinois judge on Friday said
she would decide next month whether she had jurisdiction over a
voter's complaint that Republican presidential candidate Ted
Cruz should not be on the state's primary ballot because he was
born in Canada.
Lawrence Joyce, a lawyer and pharmacist, filed a complaint
in January with the Illinois State Board of Elections saying
that under the U.S. Constitution, the Texas senator cannot run
for president since he is not a "natural born" citizen. Cruz was
born in Calgary, Alberta of a Cuban father and an American
mother.
The Board rejected Joyce's complaint - saying Cruz became a
natural-born citizen at the moment of his birth because of his
mother's citizenship - so he petitioned the Cook County Circuit
Court to review that decision.
Circuit Court Judge Maureen Ward Kirby said she was not sure
she had jurisdiction, and set a March 1 hearing for arguments on
whether to dismiss the complaint.
The complaint comes in the wake of repeated attacks on Cruz
about his eligibility by New York businessman and presidential
rival Donald Trump.
Children born abroad to American citizens can immediately be
registered as U.S. citizens through a consular report of birth
abroad, but Joyce said that process is a form of naturalization.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll in January found that one quarter of
Republicans did not think Cruz was qualified to be president
because of his birthplace.
Cruz and Trump are locked in a battle to win the Republican
nomination for the Nov. 8 election. Cruz won the first
nominating contest in Iowa while Trump prevailed in New
Hampshire.
"A potential nightmare scenario may be developing if Ted
Cruz becomes the nominee and is then forced to resign the
nomination," Joyce told reporters. He backs Republican candidate
Ben Carson but said no candidate was involved in his lawsuit.
Voters in New York and in Alabama have also filed legal
challenges to Cruz's eligibility.
"It is widely assumed and believed that no court is going to
invalidate a presidential candidate on this issue," said Gerald
Rosenberg, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School.
Lawyers for both Cruz and the Illinois State Board of
Elections said they would present motions to dismiss the case
based on jurisdiction and because they said Lawrence did not
properly serve notice of his complaint.
The Illinois primary is March 15 but early voting has
already begun.