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The Herald & Review Archives
Herald & Review (Decatur, IL)
February 25, 2007
Section: News
Page: A1
Candidates, groups tied up in election paperwork, wording
MIKE FRAZIER H&R Staff Writer
DECATUR - Some say the devil is in the details. That seems to be the case for several candidates and community groups who have had their petitions scrutinized this election season. "It’s a sad day if we’re able to knock off petitions over little, nitpicky things," said Macon County Clerk Steve Bean. Bean urges state lawmakers to adopt paperwork that is more easily understandable to average citizens. "It’s confusing the way they’re worded," Bean said. "They’re worded in legalese that not even lawyers understand. There needs to a real simplification of the whole process. "The General Assembly gets too cutesy with a lot of things, and it makes it harder for the average person on the street to run for office. You’ve got to have a lawyer to run or do anything." Across the region, candidates and issues have been in peril of being bounced from the ballot because of details in their paperwork. In Effingham, 14 residents hoped to run for a city commissioner seat and five sought the office of mayor. But the number of candidates shrank dramatically because several failed to identify on their paperwork which office they sought. Only six commissioner candidates and three mayor candidates were certified in December by City Clerk Rick Goeckner. An incumbent commissioner seeking re-election was among those to be kicked off the ballot. All but one of the candidates made it back on the ballot for the April 17 primary, due to a recent court ruling. Effingham voters will narrow a ballot of 13 commissioner and five mayoral candidates, after Effingham County Circuit Judge James Eder cited an "inconsistent manner in which (the city clerk) exercised his authority to decline to certify candidates," said Effingham County Clerk Kerry J. Hirtzel. "On that basis, he did allow those people on," Hirtzel said. Goeckner did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. In Macon County, paperwork for candidates and causes also has been closely scrutinized. Decatur’s electoral board earlier this month sustained an objection to a petition that would have allowed voters to decide April 17 whether the city should be represented by an aldermanic form of government. The decision largely was procedural because Change Decatur, the group spearheading the petition drive, already had withdrawn the petitions. Attorney Scott Rueter filed an objection to the petitions on behalf of former Decatur councilwoman Carla Brinkoetter. The objection cited more than 500 invalid signatures found by the county clerk’s office. The three-member electoral board - Mayor Paul Osborne, City Clerk Celeste Harris and Councilman Michael Carrigan - agreed to sustain the objection. A hearing also was held last week to consider challenges to the petitions of candidates for the Richland Community College Board of Trustees. Attorney Jerrold Stocks filed objections to the nominating petitions of George Wells, Jeanelle Norman and Nate Gipson. Cynthia Peterson filed objections to the petitions of John Phillips and Dale Colee. The Richland electoral board will meet at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in Courtroom 5C of the Macon County Courts Facility to consider objections to petitions of Wells and Phillips. Tim Gibson, a candidate for Oreana Village Board, was taken off the ballot after the local electoral board found his petitions had an insufficient number of valid signatures, Oreana Mayor Dan Lightner said. The electoral board voted 2-1 to remove the candidate, Lightner said. Some citizens hoped to select trustees for the South Macon Fire Protection District instead of having them appointed by the chairman of the county board. But the paperwork to get the issue on the ballot listed November for the date of the election, not April 17. The issue will not appear on the ballot, Bean said. Procedural fairness is important, but constant challenges to petitions can discourage citizens from getting involved in government, said Stephen Daniels, a founding member of Macon County Shared Vision, a group that promotes "pro-growth" policies for the region. Daniels joined Brian Burcham and Keith Anderson in submitting petitions to allow voters to decide whether to change the form of Decatur city government. Daniels favors simplifying the rules or establishing an advisory process for citizens with questions about paperwork. "If you’re going to have very elaborate and complex rules for running for office, you’d sure like to think you have resources, short of having to hire lawyers in Chicago or Springfield," Daniels said. He suggested allowing a window of time for citizens to have petitions reviewed by the county clerk or state election authorities so technical errors could be corrected before the deadline. "We end up spending all our energy talking about compliance with rules and petition technicalities, and we’re not talking about the substantive issues," Daniels said. Bean said his office works to help citizens with questions about filing paperwork properly. Challenging petitions can be a way to knock rivals off the ballot, Bean said. "If a candidate is worried about opposition, it clears out the field and can eliminate people," Bean said. "I don’t think that’s a good tactic." Bean sympathizes with the struggles of citizens who make a good faith effort to submit paperwork properly to get candidates and issues on the ballot. "It’s hard enough for me sometimes to decipher what goes where, let alone an individual who has no experience in the election system," Bean said. "There needs to be something done to change things. "It’s becoming more and more difficult for individuals to understand some of this stuff. It’s written in such governmental gobbledygook." Mike Frazier can be reached at mfrazier@herald-review.com or 421-7985.
Copyright, 2007, Herald & Review, Decatur, IL
