MARION, Ill. - An election board for the city of Marion in the upcoming Consolidated Election has determined that two candidates may remain on the ballot.
The candidates, Jason Powell and Dennis Ball, had challenges to their petitions filed in recent weeks by two individuals, James Meadows and John Gordon. And, like a number of people before them (check out the coverage from Crawford County last year, when objections to petitions for the office of precinct committeeman were filed), their petitions and any subsequent arguments fell flat when presented to the duly-seated board.
Objectors would do well to examine the law in the state as it pertains to how an objection must be filed, what kind of evidence and testimony is expected from them, and other details that people apparently don't understand exist. There's a procedure to follow; simply submitting a handwritten letter stating something to the effect of "he don't live here!!" isn't going to cut it when it comes to a hearing. While such an objection will be taken up, it's not going to prevail upon examination.
The board determined that residency was a non-issue, which is what both complaints were about. Insufficient proof - the burden of which was on the complainant to show non-residency, not on the candidates to show residency - was cited as the reason for the defeat of the challenges, so both Powell and Ball will remain on the ballot.
