Venegas... who is he?

Leo Venegas is the newest school board member.  He was placed on the board when Dave Carlson recently stepped down.  His association with the current board members landed him the position over more qualified candidates including  a Principle, a mother, and an attorney.  His qualifications were not as high, but it is all about being a Claar crony in this town.  In lieu of this, this is the first election he is actually running and he made the same errors as the other two being objected to.  It appears they do things in trio!  This is the objection being heard on Monday at 2 p.m. with the kangaroo court:

1.      According to the 2011 Election Guide, “The top portion (heading) of the nominating petition pages which include information relative to the election, the candidate, the office and political party, as applicable, must be completed prior to the circulation of the petition sheet. Mr. Venega’s has deliberately left off the portion that states (50 or more) signatures on the heading.  He has done this on all sheets, which void’s all the sheets leaving “0” required signatures.  This is less then the “50” needed to be on the ballot.

2.     The minimum number of votes to get on the ballot is “50”.  He does not meet the signature requirements for the below reasons as well.

a.     Some voters are not registered voters

b.    Some names cannot be verified due to illegible address.

c.     Some signatures are invalid by means of “not their signature”, or “printed instead of signed”.

d.    A registered voter must sign the petition in his own person. He may not sign for someone else, such as another member of his or her own family. [10 ILCS 5/7-10, 10-4]The law states that “ No signature shall be valid or be counted in considering the validity or sufficiency of such petition unless the requirements of this Section are complied with”.Therefore, both signatures must be struck. (See sheet detail below.)

e.     Under the same law it states [10 ILCS 5/7-10, 10-4]”At the bottom of each sheet of such petition shall be added a circulator's statement, signed by a person 18 years of age or older who is a citizen of the United States; stating the street address or rural route number, as the case may be, as well as the county, city, village or town, and state; certifying that the signatures on that sheet of the petition were signed in his or her presence; certifying that the signatures are genuine; and certifying that to the best of his knowledge and belief the persons so signing were at the time of signing the petition duly registered voters under Articles 4, 5 or 6 of the Code of the political subdivision or district for which the candidate or candidates shall be nominated, and certifying that their respective residences are correctly stated therein. Such statement shall be sworn to before some officer authorized to administer oaths in this State.”  Since the signature gatherer allowed persons to write in other voters names, this would void the oath that the signature gatherer made and void the entire sheet of signatures.

This would mean that pages 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6, 8, 9 would be voided, leaving only 17 valid signatures of the 50 required signatures needed to be placed on the ballot. 

Because of the two stated reasons above, I believe that Mr. Leonel Venega’s name should not be placed on the ballot.