An Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed a lower court decision in allowing three Oak Park village candidates to remain on the April 4 ballot.
The ruling means incumbent village trustee candidates Peter Barber and Glenn Brewer, as well as village clerk candidate Lori Malinski, can appear on the spring ballot.
“For the past two months, we have expended our resources, both in time and in money, to rightfully remain on the ballot,” a statement released by the candidates read. “To date, two levels of our judicial system, the municipal electoral board and the 735 residents that signed our petitions agree that our candidates deserve to be on the ballot this April 4.”
Presiding Justice James F. Smith delivered the judgment of the court, which was released Feb. 24. Justices Daniel J. Pierce and Cynthia Y. Cobbs concurred in the judgment.
Oak Park residents Kevin Peppard and Robert Milstein had challenged the validity of the candidates’ nominating petition, and sought to have them removed from the ballot.
Peppard and Milstein argued the three violated the election code by filing one single petition with 735 signatures. The challengers argued the three candidates should have filed separate petitions, each with 251 valid signatures. Even if the three had gathered 251 signatures each on single petitions, for a total of 753, they would still fall 18 signatures short, the challenges argued.
“Here, the respondent candidates did not fail to meet the minimum threshold,” the decision states. “Quite the opposite: they obtained 735 signatures where 251 signatures were needed.”
According to a statement released by Barber, Brewer and Malinski’s campaign manager Michelle Wiley, the three now hope to reach out to their challengers to address their concerns.
“In the spirit of Oak Park, we invite Mr. Milstein and Mr. Peppard to meet with us individually or as a group so that we can better understand their issues and they can understand why we believe we can lead Oak Park forward,” the statement read.
In affirming the decision, the Appellate Court judges specifically cited the language on the candidates’ petition, which read “We, the undersigned, qualified voters in the Village of Oak Park in the County of Cook and State of Illinois, do hereby petition that the following named persons shall be Independent Candidates for election to the offices hereinafter specified to be voted for at the Consolidated Election to be held on April 4, 2017.”
“It is clear from this language that the voters intended that their signatures stand for each of the candidates,” the decision states. “While combining the independent respondent candidates’ names into one petition was technically deficient, the 735 signatures on the petitions are signatures for each of the candidates, and these signatures meet the threshold requirements to be on the ballot.”
Attorney Brian Wojcicki, who represented the candidates, said he was pleased with the ruling.
“I am happy the Appellate Court agreed with our argument that the candidates should remain on the ballot and have the opportunity to be elected by the voters of Oak Park,” Wojcicki said.
Attorney Burt Odelson, who represents Peppard and Milstein, did not respond to requests for comment or answer if they plan to appeal the Appellate Court’s ruling.
On Jan. 12, the Oak Park Electoral Board voted 2-1 to keep the candidates on the ballot. That decision was appealed by Peppard and Milstein to the Circuit Court of Cook County. On Feb. 7, Judge Margarita Kulys Hoffman also ruled in favor of the candidates to remain on the ballot.
In November, the three candidates were endorsed by the Oak Park Village Manager Association.
Twitter: @steveschering
