Delay keeps Addison Twp. candidate off ballot

The Addison Township assessor's race will be a one-man show.

DuPage County Judge Bonnie Wheaton ruled Friday that Democratic assessor hopeful Brian Guimon waited too long to sue to get his name on the April 7 ballot.

The ruling is unique because it's the first time a "delay" law has been used before an election has occurred, lawyers for both sides said.

Incumbent Assessor Christopher Kain, a Republican, will run unopposed on the April 7 ballot.

The DuPage Election Commission asked Wheaton to keep Guimon's name off the ballot because it would cost thousands of dollars to reconfigure electronic voting machines used in early voting, delay early voting and, essentially, invalidate ballots already shipped to military personnel overseas without Guimon's name. Commission attorney Pat Bond argued because Guimon was informed of his removal from the ballot Feb. 4, he shouldn't have waited a month to file the suit.

"Someone has a legal right, but they have to assert that legal right as soon as possible," Bond said. "He was on notice Feb. 4 and he had up to Feb. 23 for us to alter the ballot, but we got notice of the suit March 5."

Guimon was removed from the ballot because Township Clerk Pamela Moretti said he failed to file the proper paperwork showing he was qualified to be an assessor. The assessor's position is the only township office where the state requires specific certification.

Guimon's attorney, Dan Johnson-Weinberger, argued the letter Guimon submitted identified him as a qualified candidate even though the certifying organization simply stated he was a "member in good standing."

The Illinois Department of Revenue even confirmed Guimon's qualifications, but by then the ballot already had been submitted to the commission, Moretti said at the time.

Johnson-Weinberger said it is unlikely that Guimon will appeal Wheaton's ruling.

Because Guimon was removed from the ballot before certification and he didn't file to run as a write-in candidate, he cannot run a write-in campaign, commission officials said.

Guimon was the only Democratic candidate in the county seeking one of the nine township assessor seats.