D122 Member Kathy Miller Kicked Off April Election Ballot

The nomination petition filed by New Lenox School District 122 Board Member Kathy Miller was found to be invalid at a special hearing Friday. As it stands, her name will not appear on the April ballot. 

Miller has five days to file an appeal with the Will County Circuit Court, and she said she intends to do that. 

"I just don't understand how this came about," she said. "I have to believe it is personal or political, but I don't know why. I'm hard-pressed to understand....Everybody makes mistakes," she said.

By a vote of 2-1, the three members of the Electoral Board of New Lenox School District 122 declared Miller's potion to be invalid due to a notary error. According to the objection, the notary on page four of the five-page document was faulty.

The notary, Donna Gentile, works for Miller at the State Farm Insurance Agency Office that she owns in New Lenox. She put an official seal on a document that inaccurately identified two different names as the person who circulated the nominating petition. 

A total of 12 signatures appeared on the page that showed that Chris Miller, Kathy Miller's son, signed in one spot, but Kathy Miller's name was printed on another line that identified her as the circulator of the petition. Due to the errors, that page was struck.

Because Miller had only collected 56 signatures—50 signatures is the minimum number necessary for a school board candidate to have his or her name placed on the ballot—her petition is "insufficient" without the 12 signatures that were on the stricken page.

The three members of the Electoral Board are board president Nick DiSandro, secretary Maureen Broderick and vice president Sue Smith.

DiSandro cast the only "no" vote. Smith and Broderick voted to reject Miller's petition after a 15 minute closed door discussion.

Miller, who was first elected to the board in 2009, was running in April for a two-year term. 

An objection to Miller's petition was filed Jan. 3. She described the errors as merely clerical in nature.

Broderick said her decision to invalidate the page of Miller's petition was "not political." While she blamed the error on the notary, she considered the error "egregious" enough to effectively kick Miller off the ballot as a candidate for the Board of Education.

 "I don't have anything against (Miller)," Smith said. "This is about her error. It's not about me."

DiSandro said he was disappointed with the decision. "I think many times when people run there are clerical errors. This is definitely a clerical error. Testimony verified it. Case law verified it."  

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