In a case one attorney said shows how confusing Illinois election law can be, a Barrington Hills trustee candidate on Tuesday defeated an effort to have her removed from the spring ballot, in part over claims she had too many signatures on her nominating petitions.
Barrington Hills’ three-member electoral board rejected an objection lodged by Arnold Cernik over the paperwork submitted by trustee hopeful Linda H. Cools. Village President Martin McLaughlin, Clerk Nikki Panos and Trustee Colleen Konicek Hannigan served as the electoral board.
On the issue of the signatures, Barrington Hills Village Attorney Sean Conway advised the electoral board he believed a federal case took precedence over an Illinois Supreme Court decision that supported Cernik’s objections. The state law case favored removal of the candidate from the ballot.
“Unfortunately — and I do believe this is an unfortunate circumstance — the Illinois election code is quite possibly the most confusing of codes in Illinois,” Conway said. “And it’s unfortunate because those are the rules that candidates are relying on when they’re running for office, objectors are relying on when they’re making objections.”
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