Judge orders Feb. 24 primary for trustees, clerk

A Kane County judge Thursday ordered a Feb. 24 primary election for candidates seeking the offices of village trustee and village clerk in Campton Hills.

Unlike other primary elections, which aim to whittle down a large field, this one will determine if two write-in candidates are added to the April 7 ballot if they each receive a certain percentage of votes.

"It's sort of unusual circumstances in some ways, but not in others," Judge David Akemann said.

The ruling goes back to when Trustees Harry Blecker, Laura Anderson and Susan George, and Michael O'Dwyer filed to run for village president and trustee, respectively, for the February 2015 nonpartisan primary.

Village President Patsy Smith challenged their nominating petitions, but they were upheld by an three-person electoral board Jan. 2. However, the petitions needed to be sent to Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham by Dec. 18.

John Strauss, the interim Campton Hills village clerk, did not send the petitions to Cunningham because they were being challenged.

When Cunningham received them Jan. 5 he refused to recognize them, prompting Blecker and the three others to sue.

Added to the mix were two people who filed papers to run as write-in candidates for the February primary: Steve Galloway for trustee and Nicholas Girka for village clerk.

"This is all about the right of the candidates and not about all sorts of technicalities," said Ken Shepro, an attorney representing Galloway. "It's too bad this couldn't have been handled a month ago without the candidates having to hire lawyers and sue the (county) clerk to do his job."

County officials have estimated it would cost $144,000 to hold a primary election for Campton Hills' 12 precincts, but Shepro said that number was "highly, highly inflated."

A rundown of the offices in question:

• George, Anderson and O'Dwyer will be on the Feb. 24 ballot and again on the April 7 ballot seeking three, 4-year village trustee seats. Galloway is a write-in candidate for the Feb. 24 election and if he gets 10 percent of the highest tally of votes between George, Anderson or O'Dwyer, Galloway's name will appear on the April 7 ballot for village trustee.

If Galloway gets less than 10 percent, his name will not appear on the April 7 ballot and he will not be a candidate for that election.

"There's just been a lot of turmoil (on the board), too many lawsuits," said Galloway, who pledged to focus on small, limited government for the village.

• No one has filed to run for village clerk, so there will be no name listed on the Feb. 24 primary ballot. Girka is a write-in candidate for this office, and if he gets more than 5 percent of the total votes cast for the winner of the village president seat in the 2011 election, his name will appear on the April 7 ballot.

The 5 percent figure comes to 54 votes. If Girka fails to get at least 54, he will not be on the April 7 ballot and cannot win that 4-year seat.

• Blecker, who is running for village president, automatically advances to the April 7 ballot because a primary cannot be held for an unopposed candidate.

Blecker said he was relieved a decision has been made and says it allows him and other candidates to move forward.

"We know what's happening now. We can move forward," Blecker said. "Now we can start putting our position out there."

Smith, the only president Campton Hills has ever know since it was incorporated in 2007, did not file to run for re-election. She has until Feb. 5 to decide whether to run as a write-in for the April 7 election. She said this week she was weighing her options.