Judge OKs slate for Will ballot

Upholds ruling for candidates in Homer Township

A Will County judge has upheld an electoral board ruling that allows a slate of candidates running for Homer Township to remain on the April 6 ballot.

Circuit Judge John C. Anderson ruled in favor of the slate led by incumbent township Supervisor Pam Meyers. She is running with Kathleen Kruczek for clerk, Karen Szynkowski for assessor, John Ash for township highway commissioner, Quinn Polaski for collector and Ed Kalas, Tom Fijan, Sharon Sweas and Ken Marcin for township trustees.

Resident Anthony Drabik filed the objection, arguing they did not satisfy the signature requirement because petitions listed all candidates on one sheet, rather than having individual petitions for each candidate.

After an electoral board ruled 2-1 last month that the slate should remain on the ballot, Drabik filed an objection with the Will County Circuit Court.

Their slate is challenged by Steve Balich for supervisor, Vicki Bozen for clerk, Mark Gawron for collector, Carmen Maurella for assessor, Brent Porfilio for township highway commissioner and Matt Connelly, Angela Adolf, Mike Bonomo and Rob Rivera for township trustees.

Judge Anderson wrote that the election code does not permit or expressly prohibit the use of joint petitions. Based on a previous case, barring joint petition candidates from the ballot would be an excessively harsh penalty, deprive candidates of ballot access and deprive the electorate from having choices on Election Day, Anderson wrote.

Anderson wrote that a candidate’s access to the ballot is a substantial right not to be lightly denied.

“Looking at the petitions themselves, it is readily evident that the signers intended their signatures to stand as a nomination for each of the nine candidates,” Anderson said.

Balich said that he believes his slate and supporters have a good case and will appeal the circuit court decision.

“If we lose the case, in my opinion, the way you get signatures is changed forever in the state of Illinois,” Balich said.

Balich said if their case loses, someone could circulate petitions for a large number of candidates and only get the bare minimum of signatures. Then, he said, there could be candidates on the ballot who are not serious about holding elected office.

“The reason for signatures is to show you have the support in the community,” Balich said.

Balich called the number of signatures on the Meyersled slate “a blatant slap in the face.”

Meyers said that she and her team believe they have a strong case.

“We have always tried to follow the law,” Meyers said. “Our group is moving forward with the campaign. We have united together to provide a good option for voters in April.”

To be placed on the ballot, candidates must have at least 204 valid signatures. Attorneys for Meyers’ slate argued that anyone who signed the petition clearly understood that they were approving all of the candidates listed.

Burt Odelson, Drabik’s attorney, argued last month that the group petitions were improper and each candidate needed to separately satisfy the signature requirement. In order to appear on the ballot, the candidates needed to turn in a combined 1,836 valid signatures, Odelson said.

An independent examiner found that Meyers’ slate had 269 valid signatures.

Meyers said the objection to their candidacy has likely cost about $9,600 in taxpayer funds to conduct electoral board hearings with a court reporter.

She said she hopes to move forward to begin talking about the issues in the race and called the objections “a shame.”