Naperville sets ballot order among 8 council candidates
In four months the results of the next Naperville City Council election will be known, but for now, one thing is certain: The order of candidates on the ballot.
Incumbent Judith Brodhead will appear first and challenger Michael Strick will appear last according to the results of a lottery Monday afternoon to order the names of eight candidates seeking four spots on the council.
In between, Michael Leland Isaac will appear second, John "Johnny" Krummen will be third, Kevin Michael Coyne will be listed fourth, Julie Berkowicz will be fifth, Kevin M. Gallaher will appear sixth and Benny White will be seventh.
City staff members actually conducted two drawings Monday - one among five candidates who submitted their nominating petitions at 8 a.m. Nov. 21, as the filing period began, and another among three council hopefuls who turned in their paperwork during the final hour of the period Nov. 28.
The top four vote-getters all will earn four-year terms representing the city of roughly 145,000.
Next spring's election will mark a return to a normal schedule of electing four candidates every two years instead of having all eight terms expire at once as they did in 2015. The unusual election was required because four seats were given two-year terms starting in 2013 when the city thought it was going to switch to electing some council members by districts instead of at large.
After voters chose not to enact a district system, the lowest four vote-getters elected in 2015 were assigned two-year terms again to bring them up for election now.
The eight candidates running - incumbents Brodhead, Coyne, Gallaher and Krummen and challengers Berkowicz, Isaac, Strick and White - were not enough to trigger a primary election, so all will appear on the ballot April 4.