Two Mundelein candidates could get knocked off the ballot
Two of the five candidates seeking seats on Mundelein's village board could be knocked off the April 4 ballot because of perceived problems with their paperwork.
Formal objections have been filed against the petitions of veteran Trustee Kerston Russell and challenger Ramesh C. Sharma.
Three seats are up for election in April. If Russell and Sharma are ruled ineligible because of paperwork errors, the race will be uncontested.
The other candidates are incumbents Kara Lambert and Erich Schwenk and former trustee Robin Meier.
Both objections were filed Tuesday by Terri Voss, a former trustee.
According to Voss' complaints, some signatures on the petitions should be invalidated because several pages were completed incorrectly. In addition, some people signed the petitions despite not living in Mundelein, Voss alleged.
For those and other reasons, Voss believes neither Russell nor Sharma gathered enough valid signatures to qualify for ballot placement.
A three-member electoral board will review the complaints and decide if Russell and Sharma should remain in the race or be disqualified.
Russell hadn't reviewed the objection as of Wednesday afternoon. Sharma couldn't be reached for comment.
Russell first was elected to the board in 2015. He owns several small businesses and regularly voices support for burgeoning businesses and the local business community during board meetings.
Sharma has never held elected office. A retired software consultant and professional project manager, he unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Mundelein Park & Recreation District board in 2019.
Lambert, a stay-at-home mom, was elected in 2019 and is seeking a second term.
Schwenk, a flight attendant with Southwest Airlines who also owns a real estate and property management company, also was elected in 2019 and is seeking a second term.
Schwenk and Lambert are frequently aligned on board issues in the minority. In the last couple years, that has included "no" votes on a 3% tax on self-storage unit rentals, the purchase of a large metal sculpture for the downtown area and a five-minute cap on comments during board meetings.
Russell supported those proposals.
Lambert and Schwenk also team up for a video and podcast series called Mundelein Minute that can be found at facebook.com/MundeleinMinute.
Meier was on the board from 2008 to 2015 and again from 2017 to 2021.
She unsuccessfully ran for mayor last year, losing a four-way race to incumbent Steve Lentz.
Meier and Lentz were on opposite sides of many issues during her last term.