Kendall County judge dismisses election petition challenge in Yorkville aldermanic race

YORKVILLE – The court challenge to a Yorkville aldermanic candidate’s nominating petition paperwork was based on technicalities. That challenge has failed, because of a technicality.

Kendall County Associate Judge Joseph Voiland on Feb. 16 dismissed Yorkville resident Donald Vandermyde’s objection to the nominating petitions filed by Ward 3 aldermanic candidate Malanda Griffin.

The Yorkville Electoral Board overruled Vandermyde’s objection during a hearing last month.

Vandermyde was asking the judge to overrule the Electoral Board’s decision, but the merits of his objection never came into play in the courtroom.

Instead, the focus of the proceedings revolved around the issue of whether the plaintiff had established the court’s jurisdiction in the matter.

Megan Lamb, representing the Electoral Board, told Voiland on Nov. 15 that Griffin had not been properly served notice of Vandermyde’s court filing.

Vandermyde attorney Richard Warner of Oswego told the judge that he personally mailed the paperwork to Griffin, but said he had been unable to locate the U.S. Postal Service certified mail receipt.

Warner offered to show a credit card receipt of his transaction at the Post Office, but Voiland said that receipt is insufficient because it would not show to whom the documents were mailed.

Voiland continued the hearing until the next day to give Warner time to locate the receipt.

The following afternoon, Warner was able to produce Postal Service tracking numbers showing that four pieces of mail had been sent on Jan. 17, but not the actual receipts.

Warner told the judge that three of those mailings went to the members of the Electoral Board and that the fourth was sent to Griffin.

However, when tracking the mailings, no addresses were shown and the judge said this was not sufficient.

Citing numerous court rulings, Voiland said it is a strict requirement that the candidate be served with the notice.

“The question is whether she was properly served. That is the crux of the issue,” Voiland said.

“There is a missing link here,” the judge continued. “There is no corroborating evidence that she received service. “The court is not convinced she received service.”

Voiland dismissed the case “with prejudice,” meaning that his decision is final at the circuit court level and noted that the deadline for serving the candidate with notice has passed.

Warner said afterwards that he would consult with Vandermyde to determine if he wishes to pursue an appeal at the appellate court level, but time is running out, with the Kendall County Elections Office close to finalizing the ballot.

Griffin, who failed to win a seat on the Kendall County Board in last November’s general election, is challenging incumbent Ward 3 Alderman Chris Funkhouser.

The Electoral Board consisted of Mayor John Purcell, City Clerk Jori Behland and Ward 1 Alderman Ken Koch.

Ordinarily Funkhouser, as the most senior alderman, serves on the board, but his place was taken by Koch to avoid what would have been an obvious conflict of interest.

In his initial objection, Vandermdye alleged that Griffin’s statement of economic interest was not properly filed with the Kendall County Clerk’s Office and that a statement of candidacy sheet did not include the ward number.

At the Jan. 4 hearing, Attorney Fred Dickson of Aurora represented Griffin. He told the board that his client had filed the economic statement with the county’s Elections Office, which is part of the County Clerk’s Office.

The board agreed and overruled the objection.

As to the statement of candidacy page, the board ruled that there was no confusion as to what office Griffin is seeking, noting that all of the signature pages included the Ward 3 designation.