December 24, 2024
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Yorkville electoral board to decide if candidate for alderman gets the boot

Objections filed would leave candidate a few signatures short

By Joey Weslo
The Yorkville City Council approved the 2024 tax levy at their Oct. 8 meeting. The tax levy will be further discussed at a public hearing at the Nov. 12 meeting to pave finalization for the levy that is projected to result in savings for Yorkville homeowners on their property bills.

A special electoral board meeting will decide Sammy Hall’s fate as a potential candidate for alderman in ward 4. The board consists of Mayor John Purcell, City Clerk Jori Behland, and the most senior alderman in city council, Chris Funkhouser. The meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, 651 Prairie Pointe Drive, Yorkville. (Joey Weslo)

The fate of the only upcoming contested election for Yorkville city government is in the balance after an objection was filed to disqualify a potential candidate.

In the race for Fourth Ward Alderman in the April 1, 2025, consolidated elections, Lowell “Rusty” Hyett filed an objection to the signatures on his opponent Sammy Hall’s nominating petition. Hyett contends that not only did Hall not submit enough signatures, but that three should be ruled invalid. Hyett argues two signatures live in an unincorporated area and the third lives outside the ward.

A special electoral board consisting of Mayor John Purcell, City Clerk Jori Behland, and the most senior alderman in City Council, Chris Funkhouser, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26, at City Hall, 651 Prairie Pointe Drive, Yorkville will decide the petition’s fate.

Hall said he feels barred from participating after going through a similar ordeal in the 2023 consolidated elections, in which the electoral board booted Hall from the ballot, ruling many of his signatures invalid because the people lived outside his aldermanic ward. That objection was filed by current alderman Rusty Corneils.

“This is barrier to entry, they don’t want me there, they want their guy,” Hall said. “If they knock me out of this place, they have this seat locked up forever, because no one will ever crack it. I just want a shot.”

Hall said he will be filing his own objection to Hyett’s paperwork on Monday but did not disclose the nature of the objection.

Hall said when he was barred during his last time running, the issue was more about discrepancies in page numbers on his paperwork rather than having signatures of people outside his ward like the electoral board ruled.

He believes the electoral board may rule in his favor this time around because he believes the city is erroneously using 2023 consolidated election voting numbers in the ward to determine the number of signatures needed, when the county is using numbers dating back to 2021.

According to city documents, the State of Illinois Candidates Guide 2025, issued by the State Board of Elections requires signatures for a consolidated election be, “not less than 5% nor more than 8% (or 50 more than the minimum, whichever is greater) of the number of persons who voted at the last regular election in the district.”

In his objection, Hyett states that because 603 votes were cast for alderman in Ward 4 during the 2023 consolidated elections, a candidate needs to submit between 31 and 81 signatures for the upcoming elections. With the three signatures earmarked, Hall would be down to 26 valid signatures from his initial submission of 29 signatures.

“I think the current leadership of Yorkville has done a great job, but I can add another perspective from one of the neighborhoods experiencing immense growth that is currently not represented,” Hall said.