DuPage board candidate bounced from ballot

Carol Bartucci’s name won’t appear on the November ballot as a DuPage County Board candidate because almost all of the 3,330 signatures on her petition were deemed invalid by the county’s electoral board.

Meanwhile, the DuPage County Election Commission is trying to determine whether it will take further action against the Addison resident.

Bartucci had hoped to run as an independent in District 1, which includes all or portions of Addison, Bensenville, Bloomingdale, Elmhurst, Glendale Heights, Itasca, Lombard, Roselle, Villa Park and Wood Dale.

Joyce Hundhausen of Carol Stream filed an objection to Bartucci’s paperwork. Hundhausen was represented during a Friday electoral board hearing by attorney Kory Atkinson.

According to Atkinson, Bartucci publicly admitted during the hearing that she provided false information on about 30 pages of her petition.

Bartucci initially claimed that she collected the signatures on the sheets in question. She then testified on Friday that other people did the work.

Atkinson said that making a false claim about who collected signatures is a “clear violation of the election code.” He said it’s up to the commission to decide if additional action is necessary.

“I thought that there was sufficient evidence presented at the hearing — particularly the testimony of the candidate herself — to warrant a closer look,” Atkinson said.

Attempts to contact Bartucci on Monday were unsuccessful.

Bartucci needed to have a petition signed by least 2,294 registered voters to appear on the ballot. In the end, only 22 of the signatures on Bartucci’s petition were found to be valid.

Joe Sobecki, assistant executive director of the election commission, said the reason so many signatures were disqualified was because all but two pages of the 232-page petition weren’t properly notarized.

“It wasn’t deemed to be an original notary seal and signature,” Sobecki said, “because it was a photocopy.”

Even with Bartucci’s name off the ballot, the District 1 county board race remains crowded. Three Democrats — Thomas Michael Castillo of Elmhurst, Maria DeAngelis-Vesey of Elmhurst and incumbent Rita Gonzalez of Addison — are running for three District 1 seats. They are facing incumbent board members Paul Fichtner of Elmhurst and Don Puchalski of Addison and newcomer Sam Tornatore of Roselle — the three Republicans vying for those spots.

Ballot: County board race still crowded