Democratic contests for two Kane County Board seats survive petition challenge

There will be Democratic contests for Kane County Board Districts 4 and 8 in March. The county's electoral board Friday overruled objections to the nominating petitions for both Angela Clay Thomas and Barbara Hernandez.

The ruling in the Thomas case was one of the easiest of the day. Jose Velazquez claimed Thomas was not a qualified primary voter, a flaw that could have gotten her booted from the ballot. But Velazquez failed to appear or present any evidence at any point during the electoral board's deliberations to support his claim.

The electoral board quickly ruled 3-0 to overrule Velazquez' claim.

Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon, Kane County Circuit Clerk Tom Hartwell and Kane County Elections Director Suzanne Fahnestock served as the electoral board.

Thomas will face incumbent Brian Pollock in the District 4 primary.

The case against Hernandez was more involved. Opponent Maggy Ferguson said five people who signed Hernandez' petitions didn't live in the District 8 boundaries or were not registered to vote at the address given on the petitions. Ferguson also objected to a sixth signature for not containing a proper street address. She raised red flags on three more signatures for not matching the signatures on the voters' official registration cards.

Of the nine signatures in question, the electoral board only struck two of them from Hernandez' petitions. That left her with enough valid signatures to remain on the ballot.

The electoral board will reconvene at 9 a.m. Tuesday to rule on challenges to the petitions of John Shoemaker, who seeks the Democratic nomination for coroner. The challenge against Shoemaker's petitions involves investigating the validity of 256 signatures.