Candidates to stay on Elburn ballot
Live by technical details, die by the technical details was the lesson Monday night in Elburn, as an objection saying presidential candidate Jeff Walter's petition wasn't valid was itself deemed invalid.
The three-member village electoral board panel unanimously agreed that Jim MacRunnels' objection was not proper because it was missing something Section 5/10.8 of the state's Election Code requires: language detailing what his interest was in trying to remove Walter from the April ballot.
"You don't have to allege a whole lot to allege interest," Walter's attorney, Ken Shepro, said. But, he said, you have to put down something.
According to the law, "The objector's petition shall ... state the interest of the objector and shall state what relief is requested of the electoral board." (A recent objection in a library district case in Elgin cited preservation "of the integrity of the electoral process" as the interest.)
Walter, currently a trustee, is running for village president.
MacRunnels objected to Walter's petition because Walter did not number the pages, as required by law. That left him unable to object to signatures, MacRunnels said, because that requires citing the page number and line number for the signature.
"We have statutes and standards set. They should be followed," MacRunnels said.
Walter is in a three-way race with fellow Trustee David Gualdoni and Chris Mondi.
After the Walter hearing, Michael Rullman withdrew his objection to the petition of Trustee Kenneth Anderson. Anderson and Rullman are running for village board, along with Trustee Patricia Schuberg and Matthew Wilson. Three positions are available.
Rullman had contended Anderson also failed to number his pages.
He said Monday that his objection also didn't specify an interest.
The board will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday to approve a written statement of its decision.
"It seems to me there were two errors here, but two errors don't make a right," said Village President Dave Anderson, who was chairman of the electoral board. "I don't believe for one second that either one of these two gentlemen deliberately did not number their petitions."
MacRunnels can appeal the decision in circuit court.