Lake County Board District 16 candidate Juan Beto Ruiz will be stricken from the ballot over issues with his nomination papers — less than two weeks before the primary election — with any votes cast for him not to be counted, according to a proposed court order filed Thursday.
According to Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega, the ruling in the 16th Judicial Circuit Court of Lake County means his office will not certify any votes cast for Ruiz. With 34,000 ballots mailed out — a third of which have already been returned — and a few thousand having already voted in person, it is safe to assume there have already been votes cast for Ruiz that will no longer count.
Although Vega said the case is still theoretically subject to potential appeal, it would be unlikely to be resolved before the election. It’s not the first time he’s seen a candidate thrown off the ballot, and Vega urged voters, “to research candidates ahead of time to ensure they’re casting for valid candidates.”
Ruiz, a political newcomer, had been campaigning in the Democratic primary in the hopes of unseating Esiah Campos, running a comparatively cash-strapped campaign against the incumbent and regularly criticizing Campos’ attendance record.
After the court’s decision, Ruiz could not be reached for comment. Previously, he had criticized the challenge, saying it was, “less about transparency and more about discouraging my candidacy.”
“At its core, this situation appears to be an attempt to avoid a fair and competitive race and to prevent voters from having the opportunity to decide the outcome themselves,” Ruiz said last month.
The challenge had come from two Round Lake-area residents, including Travis Haley, a Round Lake Area Public Library Board trustee. According to campaign contribution data, Haley donated $250 to Campos’ campaign in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
In a statement, Campos called the decision “exactly what we anticipated.” Ruiz had failed to follow the “straightforward and transparent rules,” he said.
“If you can’t do that, how can you be an effective steward as an elected official?” Campos said.
Campos also said the ruling raised “additional questions” about Ruiz’s motives, “especially since he used a different name than what is clearly listed on his voter registration and other legal documents.”
Neither Campos nor court documents mentioned any criminal or civil cases in Ruiz’s record, nor were there explicit claims of Ruiz lying about his voter registration, voting history or other candidate background information.
“I ran in 2022 because I grew up in this district and personally saw how our community wasn’t being adequately invested in,” Campos said. “I am proud to have delivered much-needed improvements and infrastructure that our community deserves. Our campaign will keep going until Election Day.”
Petition challenge
The court’s decision overruled a decision by the Lake County Electoral Board, chaired by Vega, which decided in November in a 2-1 vote to allow Ruiz to remain on the ballot, despite the challenge.
According to documents related to the Electoral Board’s decision, the objectors had argued Ruiz had failed to include his complete surname, “Ruiz Reynoso,” on his nominating petitions. Ruiz’s full legal name is Juan Roberto Ruiz Reynoso.
The inclusion of Reynoso, they argued, allows voters to look up a candidate’s voting record, debts owed to political subdivisions, criminal records or civil cases, and bankruptcy.
According to the documents, Ruiz argued he doesn’t often use Reynoso as his surname, pointing to various public and legal identifications, most notably his Application for Naturalization from the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
In his position as Electoral Board chair, Vega argued the Electoral Code was meant to protect the integrity of the electoral process, and that Ruiz “substantially complied” with the code when he only used “Ruiz” on nominating papers. He also noted there was no undue influence caused by failing to include the surname.
Vega concluded, “that the candidate was duly nominated by the voters in that district and the Electoral Board should not deprive the voters of the choice in that district by narrowly and strictly reading the statute.”
“Courts have ruled that providing access to a position on the ballot is a substantial right which should not be lightly denied,” Vega said, according to the documents.
But that decision has now been overruled after Haley and a second objector appealed it to the 16th Judicial Circuit Court. Including striking Ruiz from the ballot, the court found that the Electoral Board had misapplied the Election Code, saying “substantial compliance is not the appropriate standard.”
