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Decision due Thursday in Moline mayoral election objections, city clerk in the hot seat

Raes could wind up being sole candidate for mayor

MOLINE, Illinois -- A decision on who will wind up on the ballot in Moline in the April 2017 election will be handed down on Thursday, after a three hour hearing at City Hall Tuesday, December 20, 2016.

Attorneys appealed to the three-person electoral board not to throw four candidates off the ballot over a "technicality."

"The public is going to lose a lot if you rule and these guys aren't on the ballot," said attorney David Andich.

Mayoral candidates Stephanie Acri and Bob Vogelbaugh and aldermanic candidates Sonia Berg and John Zelnio are being challenged over not numbering their election petitions.

At Tuesday's hearing, attorneys put City Clerk Tracy Koranda in the hot seat, questioning why she didn't make sure the petitions fundamentally complied with state election law, which they say contend is part of her job.

"She says she's never reviewed a petition ever since she's held office. That is a terrible problem. The city of Moline has a problem. She isn't performing her duties," said Andich.

"This is a systemic problem here because for the last two elections the petitions handed out by Ms. Koranda have not complied," Andich said.

The candidates say they didn't number the petitions provided by Koranda because the space where the numbers were supposed to go were partially cut off at the bottom.

Koranda says it's not her job to review the candidate's paperwork, but admitted the copies of the petition should have been proofread.

"I do believe that these forms could have been better, I wish I would have been able to catch that," she said under questioning.

Koranda recused herself last week from the electoral board due to the fact that she would be called as a witness.

A decision on who will wind up on the ballot will be announced Thursday morning at City Hall.

 

 

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