South Elgin ballot battle heads to court

A former South Elgin trustee is continuing his fight to keep another trustee off the April ballot.

Former trustee Gary Hyman and resident Warren Redmond last month lost in their bid to have the nominating petitions of Village President John Hansen and Trustees William DiFulvio and John Sweet thrown out after claiming various infractions.

They argued Hansen improperly bound his petition with a paper clip, that Sweet’s petition was not bound and that DiFulvio failed to number his petition pages, failed to indicate the date of the election and included nonresidents on his petitions.

Hyman and Redmond recently filed a lawsuit in Kane County asking for judicial review of the South Elgin Electoral Board’s decision to keep DiFulvio’s name on the ballot.

Judge John Dalton is scheduled to hear arguments from attorneys Feb. 25.

In the suit, Hyman and Redmond argue the electoral board, which is made up of Trustees Steven Ward, Michael Kolodziej and Village Clerk Margo Gray, made the wrong decision when they ruled DiFulvio’s name should be kept on the April 9 ballot.

“(Plaintiffs) have exhausted all administrative remedies and have no further plain, speed, adequate remedy under law,” states part of the suit in asking for a judge’s review.

Hansen and Sweet’s petitions are not being challenged. Those two, along with DiFulvio, are seeking re-election to four-year terms.

Attorney Jeffrey Meyer, who represents Hyman and Redmond, declined to comment on the suit or elaborate on the issue. Hyman could not be reached for comment.

DiFulvio also could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Derke Price, an attorney representing the village electoral board, said he could not comment on DiFulvio’s individual nominating papers. Price noted that the matters raised by Hyman and Redmond were technicalities and state election laws encourage residents to run for local posts.

“That’s essentially what the electoral board said, there’s no real risk to anybody, they’re technicalities,” Price said. “I’m not going to call it sour grapes. This is the process (to ask for a court hearing next). The electoral board considered the objections and found that it was lacking.”