Jan 27, 2025
After successfully fending off legal challenges to her candidacy earlier this month, Aurora mayoral candidate Karina Garcia’s spot on the Feb. 25 primary election ballot is again being threatened by a recent appeal looking to overturn a Kane County Circuit Court judge’s decision to put her back on the ballot. In November, the Aurora Electoral Board voted to remove Garcia from the ballot as a mayoral candidate because it said she did not properly file an economic interest statement required to run for office. She did file a form, but where it asked for her job title, she put her current position as the CEO of the Aurora Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce instead of properly putting the position she was running for, mayor of Aurora, according to past reporting. Kane County Circuit Court Judge Kevin Busch overturned the Aurora Electoral Board’s decision on Jan. 2, putting Garcia back on the primary election ballot, according to a news release Garcia shared on her campaign Facebook page. She said in the release that the court’s decision was a “big win.” Garcia’s lawyer, Keri-Lyn Krafthefer, told The Beacon-News that Garcia’s economic interest statement forms were clearly filed for Garcia’s mayoral candidacy because she does not legally have to fill out those forms for her current job, and she filled it out correctly for her mayoral candidacy other than the job title. Garcia also attached a receipt showing that she filed the economic interest statement to her statement of candidacy when filing her nominating paperwork, according to her Facebook news release. Also, many court cases have held that electoral boards cannot remove a candidate from the ballot because of false information on an economic interest statement, Krafthefer said. The objector’s lawyer who filed the appeal, John Fogarty Jr., told The Beacon-News that he believes the Kane County Circuit Court was incorrect when it decided to place Garcia back on the ballot because it relied on a case that is “distinguishable from ours,” and that this appeal relies on a case that is more “on-point” because Garcia’s economic interest statement did not reflect the office she was running for. “The law is that, in this situation, a candidate unfortunately is not eligible for the ballot,” Fogarty said. A notice of appeal to the Kane County Circuit Court’s decision was filed on Jan. 13. The case is now in the hands of the Second District Appellate Court. Early voting started on Jan. 16 for the Feb. 25 primary election, which includes the Aurora mayoral primary that Garcia is running in. Other candidates running in the Aurora mayoral primary are Ald. John Laesch, incumbent Richard Irvin, Ald. Ted Mesiacos, Jazmine Garcia and Judd Lofchie. Even if the Appellate Court rules against Karina Garcia and overturns the Kane County Circuit Court’s decision, it is too late to reprint the ballots, according to Kane County Clerk John Cunningham. Instead, votes for Karina Garcia will simply not be counted, he said, if she is kicked off the ballot. However, if Karina Garcia stays on the ballot because the Appellate Court upholds the Kane County Circuit Court’s decision, the votes for her will count, he said. “If the court rules you’re off the ballot even though you’re on because of timing, it’s unfortunate that these things happen, but they do happen,” Cunningham said. “That’s why a lot of people hold off until later to vote.” Krafthefer said she was planning to file a motion on Monday to dismiss the appeal because the timing of it was “very unusual with election cases.” The appeal should have been filed within days of the Kane County Circuit Court’s decision, but instead the objectors to Karina Garcia’s candidacy waited weeks to file the necessary documents to start the appeal process, she said. “What we’re arguing is that, ‘Hey, this should have been handled three weeks ago. You waited too long, and it’s really an administrative burden at this point for all these election jurisdictions,'” Krafthefer said. The objector also did not try to fast-track the appeal, unlike when Krafthefer appealed the Aurora Electoral Board’s decision to the Kane County Circuit Court, which is unusual because people generally want election matters considered quickly, according to Krafthefer. Instead, after the court noticed that the case was election-related, it filed its own motion to speed it up, she said. Even if the motion to dismiss is denied, Krafthefer said she feels confident that the Appellate Court will agree with the Kane County Circuit Court because the Kane County judge was “very well prepared” and is a “very distinguished judge.” According to the court’s own motion to speed up the appeal, the objector to Garcia’s candidacy has until Wednesday to file an opening brief. Then, Garcia’s side has until Feb. 5 to file a response, and the objector’s reply to that response is due Feb. 12. Jose Torres, who had filed to run in the 4th Ward alderman race for Aurora City Council, was also taken off the ballot by the Aurora Electoral Board but lost his appeal to the Kane County Circuit Court on Jan. 13. At the Aurora Electoral Board hearing, Torres and the objector’s lawyer disagreed over whether Torres had enough signatures on his petition to qualify for the ballot, with the two having different interpretations of state laws on the topic, according to past reporting. The board’s lawyer also had a different interpretation than both of them. Despite losing the appeal, Torres said on Jan. 13 that he plans to continue to pursue local politics in the future. “This is not the end of me,” he said. rsmith@chicagotribune.com ...read more read less
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