South Elgin electoral board rules against objections

Three South Elgin incumbents will remain on the April ballot, an electoral board ruled Monday.

The nominating petitions of Village President Jim Hansen and Trustees Bill DiFulvio and John Sweet faced objections from Gary Hyman, who served on the village board until 2005, and resident Warren Redmond.

The electoral board found the objections were not valid to strike the candidates’ names from the ballot, Village Administrator Larry Jones said.

Political consultant Jon Zahm, who is working with Hyman and Redmond, said the group is deciding whether to appeal the DiFulvio and Sweet decisions in Kane County Circuit Court. The deadline to do so is Jan. 28.

The electoral board was composed of Trustees Steve Ward and Michael Kolodziej, and Village Clerk Margo Gray when considering the objections again DiFulvio and Sweet.

Attorney Gary Vanek took Gray’s place to hear objections about Hansen’s petition. The objectors asked that Gray not serve on the board because she had received Hansen’s petition.

The objectors claimed Hansen improperly bound his petition with a paper clip.

They also claimed Sweet’s petition was unbound, and that DiFulvio didn’t properly number his petition, failed to indicate the date of the election, and included signatures of people who don’t live in South Elgin and might be forgeries.

In Hansen’s case, past rulings found for both sides of the argument, Zahm said.

“I believe in those two cases the board made a mistake in not following the preponderance of the law,” Zahm said regarding the decisions on Sweet and DiFulvio.

Zahm also said he filed a complaint with the Kane County state’s attorney Tuesday morning claiming DiFulvio tampered with evidence when he numbered the pages of his petition just before Monday’s hearing.

DiFulvio said he consulted with an attorney before doing so, and was told it was OK.

“I felt good before and I feel good now. I think they’re looking foolish now,” DiFulvio said of the objectors.