PEORIA, Ill. — A pair of Peoria mayoral hopefuls will not appear on the February primary ballot.
A Tuesday ruling by the Peoria County Election Commission upheld a challenge from Anthony Walraven about the validity of signatures on the petitions of Couri Thomas and Chuck Brown.
The commission requires a mayoral candidate to obtain signatures of 134 registered voters within Peoria city limits in order to appear on a ballot.
199 people signed Thomas’s petition.
However 68 of the signatures were not registered at all, not registered at their listed address, or not listed in the city of Peoria.
“Therefore, the 68 deducted from the 199 would leave 131 valid signatures,” explained commission Chairman Matt Bartolo.
Thomas was dismayed and displeased by the ruling.
“It does not surprise me Anthony raised these challenges,” he said, calling Walraven a “known agitator” in the community.
“I work everyday. In this pandemic… not being able to really approach citizens to get signatures, it may have been a little confusing with the new volunteers who helped to get these signatures.
“These are new voters. These are people who have been inspired since 2017 without knowing the legal recommendations for getting signatures.”
Walraven is no stranger to the laws of the petition process, as his name was removed from the 2017 primary ballot after he failed to identify in his paperwork he was running for an at-large city council seat, and merely listed “city councilman” as his desired post.
Brown received 137 signatures.
Walraven challenged 59 of them.
“52 were found invalid, so we ended up with a total number of 85 valid signatures after the challenge,” Bartolo said.
Brown was more amenable than Thomas to the findings.
“I guess in my, you could say, inexperience running for office, I took those who were very excited and looking to support my campaign. I take people based on their word,” he said.
“I think ignorance toward what is required is not the fault of the Board of Elections, but it is the challenge of each of us as candidates to make sure we do what we’re supposed to do. I got 137 signatures, and I did not double or triple the number of signatures required.
“Again, that’s my inexperience as a candidate and no fault of the Board of Elections. The rules are the rules.”
Commission Executive Director Thomas Bride said Thomas and Brown can appeal in circuit court.
If the commission’s ruling is upheld, however, five candidates would remain on the ballot: at-large Councilwoman Rita Ali, at-large Councilman Sid Ruckriegel, District Four Councilman Jim Montelongo, Andres Diaz of Caterpillar, and activist Chama St. Louis.
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