An appellate court has ruled that votes for six Republican candidates for Naperville Township offices will not be counted in the April 6 consolidated general election.
Competing Caucuses
On December 1, two separate groups of local Republicans caucused for township seats. The Naperville Township Republican Organization held their event via Zoom and that resulted in two candidates – Matthew Rasche for assessor and Paul Santucci for trustee.
A second group, however, said they found that process to be neither fair nor honest. That group of 17 residents caucused in person outside the township offices that night, resulting in the choice of six candidates – Lynda Segneri for supervisor, Barbara Lukoff for clerk, Gary Vician for assessor, as well as Thomas Laz, Gabby Serna, and Bill Breyne for trustee.
Court Decision
Second District Appellate Court Justice Mary Seminara-Schostok ruled against allowing votes for the second group’s candidates to be counted, based on the fact that those candidates were not certified by the township clerk to be forwarded to the DuPage County Clerk. Instead, the group filed a lawsuit to have their names added to the ballot. DuPage Associate Judge James McCluskey ruled in favor of that request which allowed their names to be placed on the ballots.
Ballots cannot be altered, as early voting already began on February 25. Based on Seminara-Schostok’s ruling, votes for any of the second group of candidates will not be counted.
Further Appeal
The Chicago Tribune reports that the group of six candidates plan to appeal Justice Seminara-Schostok’s ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court. As of now, Rasche and Santucci are running unopposed, as are Democratic candidates Eddie Bedford for township supervisor, Nathanael Sippel for clerk, and Loretta Burke, John Waller and Julie Federico for trustee seats.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
If you have a story idea or news tip you want to share, we want to hear from you!