Candidate Booted off Ballot for D86 School Board Election

The Hinsdale Township District 86 school board election is off to a dramatic start, with one of seven filing candidates already eliminated from the race.

Chris Frank, of Westmont, couldn’t defend enough signatures on his nomination petition at a Jan. 7 objection hearing to convince the DuPage County Election Board to put him on the ballot for the April 7 election.

The board ruled only 48 signatures out of the 60 Frank had submitted were legitimate. The Illinois Election Code requires at least 50 registered voters be included in a nominating petition.

Bruce Davidson, of Hinsdale, filed the objection petition on Dec. 31. He questioned 14 signatures, many because no voters were registered at the given addresses, according to his review of voter registration records for District 86.

Frank said he believes Davidson’s objection was politically motivated because Frank chose to run as an independent candidate. He said Davidson and Ed Corcoran had lobbied him to run on the Friends of District 86 slate with Fred Cappetta, of Oak Brook, and Greg Gershuny, of Hinsdale and incumbent Richard Skoda.

Davidson said he looked over every candidate’s nominating petitions, and his objection was only motivated by Frank’s nomination petition not having enough signatures.

Frank’s attempt to defend three signatures at Wednesday’s hearing were blocked by objections from Davidson and ruled by the board as hearsay. Frank, who was sworn in, wasn’t allowed to use verbal statements or emails from a signee to make his case.

A fourth signature Frank tried to legitimize was found by the election staff to be invalid on a question of citizenship.

After a discussion of each signature in question, the election board upheld the decisions of the staff that reviewed the case before the hearing, and only 48 signatures on Frank’s nominating petition were considered valid.

Frank said he was disappointed in himself for not getting more signatures. He said he may appeal the board’s decision after seeking legal counsel, and he would consider pursuing the election as a write-in candidate.

“Mr. Davidson blocked the will of the people,” Frank said. “I’m not done with him, and I’m not done with Ed Corcoran.”

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