Scores of write-in candidates face an uphill battle

Scores of write-in candidates face an uphill battle
Originally published Thursday, March 12, 2009

By Nadia Malik
Daily Herald Staff Writer

The Glenbard High School District 87 race was shaping up to be a quiet one. Only two candidates had filed to run for four open spots on the board.
As word spread that two seats were up for the taking, the tide turned. A once-uncontested race now offers voters 11 choices for the school board, with nine of those candidates running as write-ins.
The write-in option brings with it a unique set of challenges. As the name suggests, voters have to actually write down their chosen candidate's name instead of just filling in an oval or tapping a name on a screen.
That's an obvious advantage for those who have spots on the ballot, but it hasn't deterred scores of write-in candidates filing an intent to run in the April 7 elections.
In most cases, those aspiring officeholders are kicked off the ballot for not doing their paperwork correctly. The nominating paper process can be nit-picky, and candidates have been bounced from the ballot for such things as not numbering their pages.
Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham said people know each other better on a local level and have more time to pore over election papers.
"There seems to be more scrutiny to ballot petitions and notarizations," he said.
The booted candidates aren't always ready to give up, so they take the alternate write-in route.
There are also the cases, as in District 87, where people see a chance to get involved on a local level without having to spend the time and money running against an incumbent.
Of course, there are always those who don't want to - or can't - spend time gathering signatures to have their names appear on the ballot and instead hedge their bets and run after deadlines to file have passed.
Thomas Garvey, who is running for a trustee spot in Carol Stream against three people on the ballot and another as write-in, had a serious illness in the family that took him away from being able to collect signatures.
"It kept me from being as active," he said. That didn't take away his drive to run in any way that he could against incumbents Pamela Fenner and Matt McMarthy as well as Anthony Manzzullo and Greg Donzelli.
In any case, the write-in route will undoubtedly mean that candidates have to spend some of their time educating voters on the process instead of solely focusing on campaign issues.
Most who go this course agree that they'll be pounding the streets, knocking on doors and getting out the word that they are running for office even if their names are nowhere to be seen in the voting booth.
Don Pydo's tactic will be giveaways, such as pens and small brochures, that will remind District 87 voters what to do on April 7.
"I pretty much take it as a grass-roots efforts," he said. "It's a unique situation."
Robert Friend, one of Pydo's opponents, said, in retrospect, it would have been easier to just collect the 60 signatures needed to be on the ballot.
"I wouldn't have to worry about anything," he said.
In fact, Friend, who is a member of the Lombard Elementary District 44 board, had even joked about moving up to a seat on the high school board.
Now he will be running against incumbent Tom Voltaggio, newcomer Yadav Nathwani and several write-ins: Rose Stelter, Philomena Merrithey, Thomas Stachelski, Luke Baer, Donald Birns, Richard Heim, John Snyder, as well as Pydo.
The District 87 case is unique, however, because at least two of the write-in candidates are likely to land a spot on the board.
That's not always the case.
Michael Elmore is taking on incumbent Village President Larry Keller in West Dundee. The task would have been daunting enough before Elmore was taken off the ballot.
"I fell into the reprimandable category of non-page numbering knucklehead," he said. "It's not of my choice to do it like this."
Elmore has faith, though, that enough people are disheartened by Keller to write his name on the ballot sheet.
"When I got voided from the ballot, a lot of people that heard that were like, 'That's crazy,'" Elmore said.
This way, he said, there's no way anyone can keep him from running.
"I think I have a great shot of winning," he said. "If you look at the past number of votes that (Keller) received in order to defeat the last candidates, it was only 400 and some votes."
His view is that voters who are tired of the status quo will make an effort to vote him in.
Unlike Elmore, Erik Peters, an 18-year-old from Antioch, was late in getting his name into the mayoral race.
He attended a board meeting in early February and found he simply didn't agree with Lawrence Hanson and Robert Caulfield Jr., who will be on the ballot as the mayoral candidates.
Because he only had a few days to collect signatures to run, Peters is running as a write-in, along with Kris Murphy.
"With write-in candidates, it's awesome that everyone gets the chance," Peters said. "You really see who's willing to make a commitment for their town."
Peters concedes that he has a bit of an advantage because he's an anomaly of sorts. The 18-year-old has been getting attention because he's so young and interested in local politics.
But he still thinks people will support him because he represents an alternative to the candidates on the ballot.
"They'll vote for any politician, regardless of age, if they feel the same way I do," he said.
Although it's an uphill battle, winning as a write-in is not unheard of. Perhaps the two most famous instances in the suburbs are when John Geils was voted in as village president of Bensenville in 2001 and Gerald "Skip" Farley did the same for his spot in Mount Prospect after he was booted off the ballot in 1997.
Farley was another candidate who was taken off the ballot for not numbering pages. Turned out, though, "I received more votes in write-ins than I had in a regular campaign," he said.
But, it takes a good amount of effort. Farley said he had 100 supporters pounding the pavement, handing out instruction cards for residents to use in the voting booth.
"We pretty well covered Mount Prospect," he said. "If you're serious about serving, it's definitely worth it."
• Daily Herald Staff Writer Jake Griffin contributed to this report.