Residents of Aurora will decide March 20 whether county clerks will take over running their elections. Kane County Judge David Akemann ruled Tuesday there were enough signatures on petitions to put a question on the ballot, and that the primary election was suitable for the vote. Objectors Alex Arroyo and Gordon Leach had argued petitioners didn’t collect enough good signatures. They needed signatures from 1,000 registered voters in the part of Aurora subject to the Aurora Election Commission. Petition-passers collected more than 1,540 signatures. The objectors said only 974 were valid. They said more than 300 were invalid because they didn’t match signatures on voter registrations; 39 were invalid because the names were printed, not written in cursive lettering; more than 130 signers were not registered voters; and 93 didn’t count because they lived outside the jurisdiction.
Akemann ruled the printed names still count as signatures, which gave the petitioners enough valid signatures.
Objectors also argued the March primary election is not a “general” election, and the state’s election law says a referendum can only be considered in a “general, state, county or municipal election.” Akemann disagreed.
Although political parties will select nominees in the primary, voters can request a nonpartisan ballot if they only want to vote in the referendum.
Full Article: Judge: Referendum on Aurora election law can go on March ballot.