McLean County Times

Connie Beard, chairman of the McLean County Republicans, is calling out county Democrats for successfully challenging five GOP candidates for county board. 

"Members of the Democratic Party of McLean County sought to remove from the ballot five Republican candidates for our county board, supported by voters of their district. A bipartisan election commission ruled to retain the candidates on the ballot. The Democratic representatives moved to appeal that decision," Beard said in a statement. "In a second hearing, not numbering a handful of petition pages was deemed sufficient reason by the circuit court judge to remove all five candidates from the ballot. Nothing was gained by this action. Time and tax dollars spent to remove candidates was such a waste as there are options available to the candidates and our Republican Party to make sure they are still on the ballot in November." 

Along with County Board Member Shanya Watchinski, the Democrats who filed the petition were Jill Blair, Anna Darrow, Cara McMorris and Sarah Breeden.

"It was apparent that since two of their own party candidates had the same errors on their petitions, this course of action was not an exercise in election integrity but just the same old petty partisan politics. Voters are looking for candidates that will serve them with integrity and not play the same tired political games," Beard said.

One of the Democrat McLean County board members was publicly excoriated by Republican Sheriff Jon Sandage for offering to help an inmate sue the county. Sandage claims that the inmate is a dangerous, convicted felon who has been described by law enforcement officials as having "white supremacist tattoos and beliefs," WGLT.org reported.

District 1 incumbent Catherine Metsker, District 5 board members County board chairman John McIntyre and Hannah Blumenshine, District 8 board member Vicki Schultz and District 9's Annette Fellows were all successfully challenged and removed from the ballot by Democrats over the technicality, according to WEEK News. Those candidates are now faced with mounting write-in campaigns. Those filing the lawsuit to remove the candidates claimed "Illinois courts have consistently held that the failure to number any pages of a nomination petition invalidates the petition." 

"It allows people to identify specific pages of a petition and to refer to information contained thereon by reference to a page number. It also prevents tampering, thereby preserving not only the integrity of the petitions submitted but the election process in general," the plaintiffs wrote.

The McLean County GOP recently held the McLean County Republicans Lincoln Reagan dinner. Gubernatorial candidate Jesse Sullivan spoke to attendees at the event. He was the sole candidate from the GOP field for the June 28 primary.