Yorkville petition challenge may hinge on missing mail receipt

YORKVILLE – The court challenge to a Yorkville aldermanic candidate’s nominating petitions may hinge on a missing mail receipt.

Donald Vandermyde is asking a Kendall County judge to overturn last month’s decision by the Yorkville Electoral Board to allow Ward 3 alderman candidate Malanda Griffin’s name to appear on the April 4 consolidated election ballot.

Early last month, the Electoral Board overrode Vandermyde’s objections to Griffin’s candidate filing paperwork, alleging that her 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.

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.

Attorneys for Vandermyde and the Electoral Board appeared before Associate Judge Joseph Voiland on Feb. 15. Neither Vandermyde, Griffin nor Funkhouser were present.

Megan Lamb, representing the Electoral Board, told Voiland 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 has been unable to locate the U.S. Postal Service 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.

Although Warner further offered to testify under oath that he mailed the documents to Griffin, Voiland was not swayed.

“It’s not enough,” Voiland said.

The attorneys and the judge discussed the question of Griffin having been properly notified without getting to the substance of Vandermyde’s objection to the candidate’s nominating paperwork.

Voiland gave Warner until the next day to come up with the receipt, setting a hearing for 1 p.m. on Feb. 16.

The judge made clear that without the receipt, he would dismiss the objection to Griffin’s nominating petitions.

“I don’t have proof of delivery,” Voiland said.

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.

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.