Villa Park trustee candidate asks court to remove opponent from ballot

A candidate for Villa Park trustee is asking a judge to remove one of her opponents from the April 4 ballot.

If Corine E. Alfano can convince the DuPage County judge that Jorge Cordova doesn't have enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot, the race for three seats on the village board will be uncontested.

The Villa Park electoral has ruled that Cordova could stay on the ballot. But Alfano is arguing in court that the electoral board was wrong.

Cordova was required to collect at least 146 signatures from residents who are registered voters. He submitted 165.

Alfano objected to 47 of the signatures. After a check of voter registration records, the DuPage County clerk reported that 30 signatures were invalid.

On Jan. 24, the Villa Park electoral board overruled the clerk's rulings on some of the protested signatures and concluded that Cordova had 146 valid signatures.

Alfano says the electoral board was wrong on two of its rulings. She alleges that one woman who signed is not registered to vote at the address she put on the petition. Alfano alleges that another signature the board accepted, where Cordova submitted a copy of a notarized statement from the voter proving the signature was valid, was not properly notarized.

Cordova could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

The first hearing is set for Thursday morning.