Jorge Sanchez, the Republican candidate in the Nov. 3 special election for the Lake County Board seat of the late Mary Ross Cunningham, may not appear on the ballot after an electoral board ruling striking him due to a missing date.
The Lake County Republican Party is appealing the decision, Chair Dawn Abernathy said. If the ruling holds, Democrat Brandon Ewing, who has been appointed to the board seat in an interim capacity, will be running essentially unopposed, besides write-in candidate Dashawna O. Phifer.
The challenge had three counts: that Sanchez’s forms had omitted the date the vacancy for the seat had occurred; that he had failed to receive the required weighted vote; and that he was not a qualified Republican primary voter. According to Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega, the first count was sustained, and the latter two were overruled.
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Abernathy criticized the effort to remove Sanchez from the ballot and alleged political bias. The electoral board is made up of the county clerk, state’s attorney, and clerk of Circuit Court, all of whom are Democrats.
“It should be up to the voters in Lake County District 9 to select their representation, not the ruling class,” she said in a statement. “A missing date was their only case; Counts two and three were not founded.”
The objection was filed by David Villalobos, a former Waukegan City Council member who ran as an independent and now works as a financial accountability manager with Waukegan Community Unit School District 60, according to the district’s staff listing online.
Vega said the decision will be issued in writing on Friday at 9 a.m.
A Waukegan Township Democratic Party news release described the omissions as “serious legal defects,” and one of several signs of an “operation stretched thin.”
In a statement, Matt Muchowski, chair of the Waukegan Township Democratic Party, criticized Republicans for the issues. Democrats “followed the law” and built “a real inclusive process” to nominate a candidate who supports Waukegan’s diverse community, he said.
“This says everything about the difference between our two parties,” Muchowski said. “Republicans couldn’t even complete their own nominating petition and barely found a single person willing to serve on the nominating committee. Democrats are the only party in Waukegan Township that knows how to organize and govern.”
Daniel Didech, chair of the Lake County Democratic Party, also criticized Republicans for the omission.
“Republicans apparently can’t figure out the paperwork or accomplish the most basic functions of a political party,” Didech said. “I look forward to celebrating on Nov. 3 when voters once again elect a supermajority of Democrats to the Lake County Board.”
In a post online, Republican candidate Joe Salvi, running for the District 17 seat of outgoing board member Michael Danforth, framed the removal as a “clear” sign that Sanchez “presented a serious challenge to the status quo.”
“Jorge is new to politics,” Salvi said. “He stepped forward because he believes his community deserves another vision and an alternative to the status quo. He substantially complied with the process, and the technical error did not impair the integrity of the election.”
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In a statement, Ewing said his focus was on “earning the trust and vote” of residents, “not on who else is or isn’t on the ballot,” and his approach will not change “regardless of the outcome.”
“The rules for candidates exist for a reason and they have to apply equally to everyone who runs,” he said.
Ballot fight
It’s not the first fight over ballot access on the County Board. Leading up to the primary for the District 16 seat, political newcomer Juan Beto Ruiz ping-ponged on and off the ballot over several weeks after a challenge centering around the omission of his maternal surname, “Reynoso.”
After Ruiz’s ultimate removal, incumbent Esiah Campos took the Democratic nomination and will face Republican Katherine Rodriguez in November.