Three candidates knocked off ballot in Lombard; board races now uncontested

Three would-be candidates for municipal posts in Lombard were knocked off the April 4 ballot Tuesday when objections to their nominating petitions were upheld by the Lombard Electoral Board.

The decision means the races for village president, clerk and trustee will be unopposed this spring.

Resident Amy Le Beau filed objections Dec. 27 to the nominating petitions of village president candidate Ben McAdams, village clerk candidate Kali Emerson and District 1 trustee candidate Darryl Holloman.

On Tuesday, former village trustee and State Rep. Peter Breen, an attorney, represented Le Beau during three hearings to review the objections, which all stated that the three candidates did not gather enough signatures to qualify to run for their positions.

Breen argued all three candidates should have researched the matter further and reached out to others who could have given them an answer. During the hearing for the objection against McAdams, he said the small amount of signatures gathered showed "disdain for the process."

According to the village's attorney, Jason Guisinger, Illinois law states that the number of signatures candidates running as independents must collect should equal no less than 5 percent, and no more than 8 percent, of the total ballots cast in the last election for the position they are vying for.

That means Holloman needed at least 76 signatures, but got just 32. Holloman said he asked the village clerk's office about the minimum number of signatures needed, but was referred to the state and county election commissions for further clarifications.

When he went to them, they sent him back to Lombard.

"When I inquired again, the village clerk's office said they could not verify nor contradict the amount of signatures that I was under the impression I needed to get," Holloman said.

Breen said the clerk's office wasn't required to provide Holloman with a number.

"The election code is clear," Breen said. "It is on the candidate to be aware of it."

The clerk and village president positions required at least 385 valid signatures, but Emerson gathered 81 and McAdams collected 97.

Emerson was not present, but Holloman and a lawyer for McAdams argued that the number of necessary signatures only had to equal 1 percent of the total ballots cast in the last election.

Guisinger, however, said the 1 percent rule would only be the case if Lombard was a nonpartisan political system.

"Municipalities are partisan political systems, unless they have gone to a nonpartisan political system through referendum," Guisinger said. "The village of Lombard has not adopted the nonpartisan political system. Candidates in Lombard have historically run as independent candidates; nonetheless, candidates in Lombard do have the ability to run as independent candidates or members of a new or established political party."

Because Lombard is partisan and the candidates filed independent nominating petitions, Guisinger said, the 5 percent to 8 percent rule stands.

Village President Keith Giagnorio, Village Clerk Sharon Kuderna and District 1 Trustee Dan Whittington will now run uncontested in their bid for another term. Other uncontested candidates who will appear on the April 4 ballot include incumbent trustees Reid Foltyniewicz for District 3 and Bill Ware for District 6.