The board of election commissioners for the city of Galesburg rejected the nominating petitions of Galesburg mayoral candidate Anthony Law at a brief hearing Monday.
The decision follows two objections that were filed against Law’s nominating papers and effectively removes him from the ballot for the April 1 consolidated election.
Both objections were filed Nov. 25 and argued Law’s nominating papers were invalid because the pages were not numbered, as required by state statute.
Dozens of signatures on his petitions were also contested, because they were reportedly not from registered voters or not from voters registered at the address listed.
However, in upholding the objections and rejecting Law's nominating papers, the board of election commissioners only ruled on the lack of page numbers, after deliberating for a few minutes.
Roger Williamson, chair of the board of election commissioners, said the electoral code is clear that the pages in a nominating petition should be numbered consecutively. So, he said, there was no reason for the board to consider the validity of the signatures in Law’s petition.
“Even if all those were the proper ones, we would still have to dismiss the nominating petition of Mr. Law,” Williamson said.
One of the objections against Law’s nominating petitions was filed by Louise Wilder and the other was filed by Darla Krejci, Jeannette Chernin, and Holly McDorman.
Only Wilder spoke at Monday’s hearing, offering copies of the relevant statutes to the board. Law was not present.
With Law removed from the mayoral race, incumbent Peter Schwartzman will face former mayor John Pritchard.
Following the decision, Schwartzman told TSPR he is glad the process is over.
“I know there’s a lot of tension in the room,” Schwartzman said. “A lot of people here to watch, witness democracy in action.”
Though Schwartzman didn’t file the objections, he said he was aware of issues with Law’s paperwork.
“I did review the petitions, as any good candidate would do,” Schwartzman said. “And I did share my findings with some of my constituents.”
Ward 2 objection rejected
Two objections were also filed against Wendel Hunigan, who is challenging incumbent Wayne Dennis for the Ward 2 council seat — and both were rejected by the board of election commissioners.
In their brief objections, Perry Darrah and Brad Fell argued Hunigan should have been removed from the ballot because he signed Dennis’ nominating petitions before deciding to run for the seat himself.
“I just think a man that endorses another nominee and then a little later turns around and runs against him, I think that’s kind of a double standard,” Darrah told the board.
Darrah could not share relevant election code or appellate court rulings when the board of election commissioners asked him. Fell was not in attendance.
Jack Ball, attorney for the board of election commissioners, said the only legal prohibitions for signing multiple candidate petitions are for partisan elections, such as signing petitions for both Republican and Democratic candidates running for the same office.
“That’s not the issue here,” Ball said.
Hunigan also addressed the board. He said he has “no grudge” against Dennis.
“I think he has been a very competent alderman for our ward,” Hunigan said.
He is running, he said, because his neighbors asked him to, and because of increased drug activity and safety issues in the ward.
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