Madison County Board candidate continuing fight to get opponent off ballot

An independent candidate for the Madison County Board survived a challenge to his ballot petition, but his Republican opponent has filed an appeal to the electoral board’s decision.

Last month, the Madison County Electoral Board accepted enough of the contested signatures on Tyler Oberkfell’s petition that he had a sufficient number to remain on the ballot for District 2 of the Madison County Board.

The electoral board consisted of State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons, Circuit Clerk Mark Von Nida and County Clerk Debbie Ming-Mendoza, who chaired the board by statute. They were advised by county attorney John McGuire.

Oberkfell’s opponent, Republican Donald Moore, had filed an objection to Oberkfell’s petition, contesting some of the signatures. In a series of hearings, the board voted on each of the contested signatures, some of which were disqualified because the person was not registered to vote or because the person’s address was not in District 2. Approximately 14 signatures remained in contention.

Before the final hearing, Oberkfell and some volunteers visited all 14 voters with a notary, and each was “more than happy” to sign a notarized affidavit confirming their signature, Oberkfell said.

“By representing myself throughout the objection hearings, I stood up to a major party and its experienced lawyer in order to preserve democracy and give the voters a choice,” Oberkfell said. “Once elected, I will fight just as tenaciously for the residents of County Board District 2.”

Oberkfell then defended his case for more than two and a half hours in the final hearing without an attorney. Gibbons said the case was “well-argued by both sides,” and that decision came down to a difference of four signatures.

The original petition had 273 signatures, with 39 eventually disqualified by the board. That left Oberkfell with 234 signatures. The minimum required to get on the ballot was 232 — a significantly higher number than his opponent’s because Oberkfell is an independent candidate. Moore needed only enough signatures to equal 5 percent of the number of registered Republicans in District 2 who voted in the last gubernatorial election. But as an independent, Oberkfell had to gather enough signatures to equal 5 percent of all voters in that election. That meant while Oberkfell needed 232 signatures, Moore needed only 19.

Moore said that he feels the board overlooked problems with signatures in order to help Oberkfell stay on the ballot. “I wasn’t pleased with the outcome, and I find it troubling,” he said. “From my perspective as a Republican, and knowing how Madison County can be… I wonder if I got the short end of the stick.”

Moore has since filed an appeal for a judge to review the board’s decision. In it, he alleges that four of the signatures were allowed even though they were from outside District 2. He said that the board allowed those signatures because they were not specifically objected to in his original challenge.

Electoral board member Ming-Mendoza said, “I’m confident that the outcome of the judicial review will be fair and just. The voters and the candidates must have confidence that the system works for all.”

Oberkfell said that Moore’s arguments were exactly the opposite of the arguments presented in the earlier electoral challenge to the Madison County tax referendum, in which the proponents opposed using the binder review instead of limiting the challenge to the specifically-named signatures.

“I find it hypocritical, dishonest and shameful that my opponent, Don Moore, claimed to want democracy and voter choice in the recent (tax referendum) challenge, yet his actions through this objection are the exact opposite,” Oberkfell said.

The previous challenge was heard by a different board, as many public officials recused themselves and were replaced, but Moore’s attorney, James Craney, represented the referendum’s proponents. That challenge also was overruled and the tax referendum will appear on the ballot in November. Ming-Mendoza said that board relied on the full binder review because there were allegations of fraud, which were not made in Oberkfell’s case.

Oberkfell said he has been informed of the appeal, but no court date has been set. In the meantime, he said, he will focus on his campaign as an independent candidate, which he said enables him to focus on principles instead of party affiliation.

“I want to work with local officials to bring county resources to the Troy community while maintaining responsible tax spending,” he said. “The county has been living within its means, and I wish to continue that. I also support working families and will fight to make sure the community continues to be a great place to raise a family.”

Moore said as a fiscal conservative, he intends to promote tax reduction wherever possible. “I would like to seek out where there is money being spent that is not effective and shouldn’t be spent,” he said. “I’ve dealt with big budgets before, and there’s always plenty of money that is fluff that could be given back to the taxpayers.”

This story was originally published August 5, 2016 at 11:34 AM with the headline "Madison County Board candidate continuing fight to get opponent off ballot."