St. Clair County Electoral Board throws one off March ballot

A candidate who filed to run for St. Clair County Board won’t be appearing on the March primary ballot.

The St. Clair County Electoral Board on Tuesday threw Marvin B. Strode, of Washington Park, off the ballot for the County Board District 2 Democratic primary election.

Strode admitted to the electoral board during a Monday hearing that he signed a candidacy petition for LaNinya Cason, a Republican candidate for a judicial position. However, Strode also wanted to be the Democratic nominee for County Board District 2.

State law says a person cannot sign the petitions of both a Republican and a Democrat during an election cycle.

“Strode answered honestly to his credit,” said State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly, who serves on the electoral board.

Strode did try to revoke his signature from Cason’s petition, but he submitted the request to the St. Clair County Clerk’s Office. The request needed to go to the State Board of Elections, where Cason filed her petitions to run.

Kelly added that Strode had ample time to determine where he needed to send the revocation request.

Strode’s original revocation request was eventually sent to the State Board of Elections, but it was too late, and after Cason filed her petitions.

As it stands, only Joan McIntosh and Harry Hollingsworth will appear on the March 15 primary ballot for the Democratic nomination in County Board District 2.

The objection, along with others, was heard on Monday but decisions were delayed until Tuesday to allow for further research and consideration by the the electoral board.

On Tuesday, the electoral board denied Strode’s objection to Hollingsworth being on the ballot. An objection by Robert Eastern III to Roy Mosley Jr. being on the ballot for District 6 County Board member also was denied.

McIntosh’s objection to Hollingsworth being on the ballot also was denied.

The three cases also dealt with candidates signing petitions for Cason, and then filing to run as a Democrat.

Hollingsworth denied signing Cason’s petitions.

Kelly said the objectors in those cases did not provide sufficient evidence supporting their case.

“We have to have some type of evidence,” Kelly said. “We can’t (make) decisions based on conjecture.”

This story was originally published December 15, 2015 at 12:02 PM with the headline "St. Clair County Electoral Board throws one off March ballot."