Anonymous Tip Led to D122 Petition Objection (UPDATE)

An anonymous tip led to New Lenox School District 122 board member Kathy Miller's removal from the ballot in the April election.

What's interesting is the fact that the person who filed the objection, Nikki Sanders of New Lenox, never actually went into the District Office to view the petition. Sanders said that on Jan. 2, while she was away from home, someone had put a copy of page four of the document in her mailbox. That's all it was, she said. The single page was not in an envelope. It was stuck in the mailbox.

The first thing she did was to contact individuals on th school board to discuss the document with her. Sanders said she speciffically placed calls to board members Maureen Broderick and Sue Smith. They said they could not discuss the matter, said Sanders.

Related stories:

• D122 Member Kathy Miller Kicked Off April Election Ballot

• Candidate Petition for New Lenox School District Challenged; Hearing Set for Friday

According to the D122 Election Official, only two people visited the administration center to view petitions. They were board members Maureen Broderick and Sue Smith.

Speaking about the document left anonymously, Sanders said, "I don't know who it was. It could have been anybody." She earlier characterized the method in which she first received information concerning the petitions as "a little birdie told me."

Initially, "I thought whoever left it wanted me to check for signatures," said Sanders, who in her role as Republican Committeeman for Precinct 6 in New Lenox, has filled a number of nomination petitions. After a closer examination of the document, she realized there was an error concerning the circulator of the petition, which was notorized. There were two different names—one written signature and one printed—along with a missing date.

In her objection filed on Jan. 3 at the District Office, Sanders said that Miller's nomination papers were "insufficient."

Asked what compelled her to file an objection, Sanders said she performed the task, because "I'm a fan of good government." Monday she elaborated on her statement saying, "My issue is somebody who can't even fill out an election document; that's laziness. That's not somebody I want. I want responsible people."

A second objection was filed

The petition filed by New Lenox's Tom Hottinger, who is one of nine candidates running for a seat on the D122 Board of Education was also found lacking. Broderick said she filed an objection against Hottinger's petition, citing a similar notary error and signature differentiation. However, she chose to withdraw the objection because he had an excess of voter signatures. Even if the page were pulled, it wouldn't affect the outcome. Hottinger was later notified of the objection. Since the District's Election Official had already left for the day, contact information for Hottinger was unavailable. No telephone number is listed publicly.   

Two ways to stay connected:

• New Lenox Patch breaking news and New Lenox Patch Facebook

***An original version of the article incorrectly stated that Nikki Sanders contacted another member of the board.