Grayslake trustee candidate fighting to stay on ballot

Grayslake resident Michael Francq has filed an appeal in Lake County circuit court in an effort to stay on the ballot as a village trustee candidate in April.

Last week, a majority of the village's three-member electoral board ruled Francq's nominating petitions were flawed and kicked him off the ballot. The hearing occurred after Grayslake resident Virginia Russell challenged Francq's paperwork.

Mayor Timothy Perry, who chaired the electoral board, and Clerk Cynthia Lee ruled to lop Francq from the April 7 ballot because he ultimately didn't have enough signatures from registered Grayslake voters.

Perry and Lee found one page in Francq's documents stated he was running in the "April 17, 2007," election. That "presented the risk of misleading" voters, and they ruled the signatures on that page invalid.

A hearing on Francq's appeal is set for Tuesday, Feb. 24 in Lake County circuit court. Francq said he'll represent himself in court because he can't afford an attorney. He said the crux of his argument will be no one who signed his petitions was confused about when he was running for office.

"The form is substantially compliant," Francq said Thursday. "The intent of the voters is what's important."

In the end, Francq's nominating petitions were found to have 92 valid signatures, short of the minimum 96 required to get on the ballot, according to the ruling by the two-member majority of Grayslake's electoral board. Francq submitted petitions with 115 signatures, meaning the board found 23 of them invalid.

Perry said the village plans to send an attorney to represent the electoral board's interests at Francq's appeal. He said no new evidence or testimony will be presented on the electoral board's side in court.

"I'm comfortable with the decision we came to," Perry said. "The court can do whatever it wants."

Trustee Jeff Werfel was the third member of the village's electoral board and was the sole dissenter in the 2-1 vote that knocked Francq off the ballot. He said in his dissent while care must be taken not to confuse voters, there wasn't enough reason to strike Francq from the ballot.

"I have confidence in the good sense of the voters," Werfel said, "and I believe that placing this decision in their hands is the right thing to do."

If Francq is placed back on the ballot, it will be a five-way race for three trustee seats, each carrying a 4-year term. Other candidates are incumbent Bruce Bassett, incumbent Amy Edwards, Quin O'Brien and incumbent Shawn Vogel.