Last-Minute Challenge Filed Against 8-District Referendum

Should the City of Joliet have eight districts instead of five?

Residents could get the chance to answer that question in November -- or maybe not, depending on how a challenge to a grassroots petition shakes out.

A roup known as Concerned Citizens of Joliet gathered 1,500 signatures to place a question on the Nov. 4 general election ballot asking, “Should the city of Joliet be divided into eight districts with one council person to be elected from each district, but with the mayor to be elected from the city at large?”

Monday at 5 p.m. was the deadline for objections to be filed to prevent the question from going to voters.

Although Patch checked with the city clerk’s office at 4:30 p.m. and found no challenge, one was filed at 4:55 p.m. — just five minutes from the deadline.

The challenge was filed by Sarah Andreano, a resident of the 1200 block of Glenwood Avenue, who claims the petition does not contain enough valid signatures. Among claims made in the challenge are that the petition contains forged signatures, as well as illegible or incomplete signatures, or signatures of those who are not registered voters at the address they listed, among other claims.

The challenge states that the petition sheets contain more than 300 invalid signatures.

Richard Rodriquez of the concerned citizens group said the organization is disappointed by the challenge.

“We find it particularly disturbing that the person who is contesting the initiative is the Campaign Chairman for a Second Judicial Subcircuit Candidate,” Rodriguez said in a statement Tuesday night. The Illinois State Board of Elections website lists Andreano as chairman of the Friends of Judge Dinah Lennon Archambeault .

“Not only is this a potential violation of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 67 and Judicial Cannon 7, but it is a thinly veiled attempt to disenfranchise minority voters and thwart the political process we call democracy,” Rodriquez said.

Joliet’s electoral board must rule on the objection to determine whether the question will go on the ballot.

The concerned citizens group would like to see the city divided up into eight districts, with one city council member from each district. Under the plan, the mayor could live in any district.

Currently, council members representing Districts 1 to 5 must reside in those districts, but three at-large council members can live in any district.

Concerned citizens member Maria Rosas in May told Patch that the group feels the configuration would allow for better representation for citizens.

Mayor Tom Giarrante said he believes the change could actually take choices away from Joliet voters.
“Right now, no matter where you live in Joliet, you get to vote for five of the nine people that sit up there,” he told Patch last spring, adding all voters can cast ballots for the mayor, their own district and the three at-large council members.

Related: Group Pushes for Joliet City Council Redistricting