Several candidates running for City Council and police district council seats on the West Side are facing objections to their petitions.
Once the nominating petitions are filed, any Chicago registered voter can object to the petitions’ validity. According to the copies of the objections available on the Chicago Board of Elections website, most of those objections are standard arguments that the candidate doesn’t have enough valid signatures from registered voters to qualify. But 29th ward candidate Corey Dooley-Johnson also faces allegations that he isn’t a registered voter and hasn’t lived in the ward long enough to qualify for the office. The candidates will now have to make their case before the Board of Elections hearing officers.
Jill R. Bush, property manager at Bush Properties who ran for 29th Ward alderman in 2011, filed objections against two of the three candidates challenging incumbent Ald. Chris Taliaferro: Dooley-Johnson and Republican 29th Ward Committeeperson Walter Adamczyk.
Carmelita P. Earls, of Austin, who ran for the 28th Ward alderman in 2011 and is currently running for the 25th District police council, filed objections against 28th ward incumbent Ad. Jason Ervin and all candidates running for the 15th District police council. The Austin portion of the 28th Ward falls entirely within 15th District, which encompasses the section of Austin south of Division Street. The 25th District includes Galewood and the rest of Austin.
Earls’ objections to police council candidates center around paperwork issues, such alleged missing notary seals on some pages and a shortage of valid signatures. With Ervin, she alleged that the alderman didn’t disclose all his assets in the Statement of Economic Interest all candidates must file.
Emma J. Robinson and Charles Enter filed objections against every candidate challenging Ervin, alleging that none of them have enough valid signatures. Etta Johnson challenged Ervin’s signatures on the same basis.
Unlike in the past two elections, there have been no objections to any candidates running in the 24th and 37th wards.
In the 11th police district, which includes all of West Garfield Park, the section of North Lawndale north of Roosevelt Road, the part of West Humboldt Park south of Division Street and most of East Garfield Park, Jacqueline M. Weatherspoon is objecting to two of the five candidates: Tamiko Holt and Martin Coffer. The other three candidates face no objections. Since each council will only have three seats, if Holt and Coffer are thrown off the ballot, the candidates would win by default.
In the 15th police district, aside from Earls’ objections, former 29th Ward Ald. Isaac Carothers filed an objection against community activist Ottis “O.J.” Johnson, who ran for 29th Ward alderman in 2015, on the valid signature basis.
In the 25th District, the only objection came from Thomas Simmons, founder of the Citizens for a Better Westside who ran in 29th Ward in 2015 and who objected to Jacob Arena on the signature basis.
CONTACT: igor@growingcommunitymedia.org
