Aurora electoral board to decide if recall referendum questions will be on November ballot

With about two months left before the November election, it’s still unclear whether two referendum questions aiming to allow for the recall of a sitting mayor and at-large aldermen in Aurora could appear on the fall ballot.

If placed on the ballot, the questions would ask Aurora voters if the city should adopt mechanisms that would allow a sitting mayor or an alderman at-large to be recalled.

The decision on the issue, which is up to Aurora’s three-person electoral board, could hinge on the validity of petition signatures, the language of the proposed referendum questions and the authority of local municipalities.

The electoral board is set to meet at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1, in the Aurora City Hall Council Chambers to hear arguments for and against including the referendum questions on the November ballot.

The board includes Ald. Juany Garza, 2nd Ward; Ald. Mike Saville, 6th Ward; and Jennifer Stallings, Aurora city clerk.

The board usually includes the Aurora mayor, but current Mayor John Laesch opted out of the proceedings due to his involvement opposing the proposed referendum questions.

With early voting beginning Sept. 24, the board is racing to decide whether to sustain or reject two objections to the referendum questions filed on Aug. 10.

Stallings said the timing, along with the potential referendum involving records from all four counties that touch Aurora, is difficult. The potential referendum involves Kane, DuPage, Kendall and Will counties because it would apply city-wide, and the city includes residents from all those counties.

“My understanding is that it does make it a little difficult, the unknown timing of everything and you know for them to prepare their ballots on time and get their mail-ins and everything else,” Stallings said.

The objections to the referendum questions, formally submitted by Helen Francis Ratzlow, argue that both sets of referendum petitions included a large number of invalid signatures and therefore failed to meet the minimum number of valid signatures required.

Petitioners submitted a total of around 1,000 pages of petition sheets with signatures supporting the two referendum efforts just ahead of the Aug. 3 deadline for local referendum filings.

The objectors alleged in their filing that some petition signatures are invalid due to issues with the signee, such as not being registered to vote, and petition circulators, such as not residing at the address they provided on the petition sheets. Objectors also allege some petition sheets were copies, duplicates or did not apply to the specified referendum.

Objectors also focused on the language of the questions and the authority of local municipalities in the two objection filings.

Objectors allege that the referendum is vague and poses two independent questions that voters could answer differently.

The objectors also allege that a procedure to recall an elected municipal officer and fill the vacancy by a referendum is beyond the scope of a home rule municipality’s authority.

The petitioners, primarily represented by Adam Pauley, responded in filing a document requesting the board to strike the objections. Petitioners argued that the objector’s listed minimum requirement of signatures was incorrect and that signatures either complied with election laws or that the alleged issues were not sufficient to invalidate the signatures.

Petitioners also argued that state law allows a recall procedure to be established and approved by a referendum voted upon by Aurora residents and that objectors failed to fully explain a related objection regarding the schedule of special elections.

Petitioners also said that the referendum poses one singular question and does not require additional explanation.

Attorneys for the city, petitioners and objectors have combed through Kane County voter registration records, according to Raymond Esquivel, Kane County director of elections.

Voter records will next be examined in DuPage County, then Kendall and Will counties.

Stallings said she met her Aug. 27 deadline to certify and submit the questions to all four counties, but listed that objections are still pending.

awright@chicagotribune.com