St. Clair County Electoral Board to hear objections to county board candidates

With candidate petitions filed for the March primary, some of those running for the St. Clair County Board might find themselves off the ballot.

On Monday, the St. Clair County Electoral Board, comprised of State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly, Circuit Clerk Kahalah Clay and County Clerk Thomas Holbrook are scheduled to hear 17 objections. Seven of the cases involve county board races. The other cases involve precinct committeemen.

Robert Eastern III is objecting to current District 6 Board Member Roy Mosley Jr.’s petitions.

Eastern said in his objection Mosley signed the petition of Laninya Cason, who is running in the Republican primary in the 20th Judicial Circuit. Eastern said a person can have a maximum of one party affiliation during an election cycle.

Mosley did not return a phone call seeking comment.

County Board District 2 Board Member Joan McIntosh is objecting to the petitions filed by Harry Hollingsworth and Marvin B. Strode, who have filed to run against McIntosh in the Democratic primary.

McIntosh said in her objections that both Hollingsworth and Strode signed petitions for Cason as well.

Hollingsworth and Strode also are objecting to each others petitions.

Strode points out the same objection of Hollingsworth signing Cason’s election petitions.

Hollingsworth said Strode failed to circle if he lived in a city, village or unincorporated area, questioned the validity of several signatures on Strode’s petitions, and did not circle “nomination” on his petitions, among other things.

In District 25, Jerry Nichols Sr. has filed an objection over Ron Gerlach’s petitions. Both men are running for the Republican nomination for that district.

Nichols in his objection said Gerlach’s petitions weren’t neatly fastened together and his statement of candidacy was not attached to petition sheets, “making it impossible to verify proper numeration and placement of all required documents and petitions.”

Lester Byrd, who is seeking the Republican nomination for District 10, is challenging the petitions of Dixie Siebert, a Democrat running for re-election. In his hand-written objection Byrd said Siebert failed to circle the word “nomination” on her petitions.

“Mrs. Siebert has been serving in the capacity of County Board for more than 20 years,” Byrd wrote. “Mrs. Siebert is aware of the petition process. She has completed this process several times.”

Siebert was unable to comment on the objection on Friday.

One county board candidate who filed to run already has been thrown off the ballot by the St. Clair County Electoral Board.

In St. Clair County Board District 6, Christopher Jenkins, of East St. Louis, filed to run as a Republican. He only needed five signatures to get on the ballot as a Republican; he turned in 19 signatures.

However, because Jenkins’ two pages of signatures weren’t numbered, his petitions were challenged, and the St. Clair County Electoral Board granted the objection. Jenkins was removed from the ballot.

“I want to represent my district with everything I have. East St. Louis is (on) a downhill. If people want me off, they won’t vote for me in November,” Jenkins said during the hearing. “These seats have been one without (any) challengers, if people don’t want me, they won’t vote for me. I want it to be decided that way.”

Jenkins said after the hearing he might run as a write-in.

State’s Attorney Kelly said the statute requires pages be numbered in order to prevent fraud.

“It’s a tough lesson to learn,” Kelly said. “Don’t be discouraged of getting involved with government and politics, and running for office.”

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 7:16 AM with the headline "St. Clair County Electoral Board to hear objections to county board candidates."