Two DuPage Democrats knocked off the November ballot

The campaigns of two Democrats came to an end Friday in DuPage County after an electoral board decided their names won't appear on the November ballot.

Next month, the same panel will decide the fate of three other DuPage Democratic nominees, including a state representative hopeful.

All five candidates who had their nominating petitions challenged were picked by their party to run because no Democrats sought the seats during the March primary.

Brian Wolter was slated by the DuPage Democratic Party to run for president of the forest preserve district, and Max J. Havlick was chosen to run for a DuPage County Board seat.

But the county's electoral review board concluded during a Friday hearing that Wolter and Havlick both failed to collect enough valid signatures to qualify for office.

The ruling against Wolter means Joe Cantore, an Oak Brook Republican, will run unopposed for forest preserve president.

With Havlick out of the race, county board incumbent Peter DiCianni, an Elmhurst Republican, will be unchallenged in his bid for another term representing District 2.

District 2 covers all or portions of Addison, Clarendon Hills, Downers Grove, Elmhurst, Hinsdale, Lisle, Lombard, Naperville, Oak Brook, Oakbrook Terrace, Villa Park, Westmont and Woodridge.

Meanwhile, objections to the nominating papers for Robert Peickert, Roland "Rolly" Waller and Marian Tomlinson claim those three candidates weren't properly appointed by the Democratic organization.

Mark Nowak of Addison claims that Waller wasn't appointed properly to be a county board candidate because some precinct committeemen weren't given reasonable advance notice of the slating meeting. Waller, who lives in Bensenville, was slated during an April 29 meeting.

"Precinct committeemen, who by statute had the right to vote to fill any vacancy, were shut out of the process," said Laura Jacksack, Nowak's attorney. "Therefore, this candidate's purported appointment was, unfortunately, invalid."

A similar argument was made against Peickert, who the Democrats appointed to face incumbent Republican county board Chairman Dan Cronin.

Lombard residents Michael Ledonne and Sandra Baldwin claim the Democrats didn't comply with the election code because precinct committeemen weren't notified about the April 28 meeting where Peickert was slated.

But Scott Pyles, the attorney representing Peickert and Waller, says the Democrats did nothing wrong when they created subcommittees to select candidates to fill vacancies on the ballot. Those panels were formed during the party's annual convention.

"The (precinct committeemen) were able to participate in the nomination because they were able to select the people that were going to serve on the committee," Pyles said. "That was their voice."

If the county electoral board keeps Waller on the ballot, he will face incumbent county board member Paul Fichtner of Elmhurst for a District 1 seat. The district includes all or portions of Addison, Bensenville, Bloomingdale, Elmhurst, Glendale Heights, Itasca, Lombard, Roselle, Villa Park and Wood Dale.

The third case the electoral board is reviewing involves Democrat Marian Tomlinson of Glen Ellyn. She was appointed to challenge Republican Peter Breen of Lombard, who won a hotly contested GOP March primary in the 48th House District.

The district covers all or portions of Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, Lombard, Villa Park, Oakbrook Terrace and Downers Grove.

Breen, who is the attorney working to get Peickert off the ballot, said he's not involved with the objection that was filed against Tomlinson.

Still, he said, the Democrat Party didn't follow the rules when it slated candidates.

"It does appear across the board there were issues with all of these candidacies," he said.