Rockton overrules objections against three candidates

Rockton Township election authorities overruled Michael Nolan's objections to three independent candidates for Rockton Township offices at a public hearing on Dec. 2, 2024 at the Rockton Township offices. The three objections concerned the candidacy of trustee Randall Johnson, trustee Vicky Ivy, and candidate Ricarda Gomes.

Later that evening, in Roscoe Township, an electoral board postponed a hearing on objections against Trustee Phil Rhymer, Clerk Gary Blascoe, and Road Commissioner Steve Schrier. An objection was also filed against Trustee Pat Henderson, for not getting enough signatures, and he decided to withdraw his candidacy. Michael Nolan was also present at that hearing. The three candidates are running as part of Roscoe Independents, a slate which no longer includes Township Supervisor Bob Nowicki.

Illinois law says a township's electoral board should consist of the township supervisor, the longest serving trustee, and the township clerk. Ordinarily, in Rockton Township, that would mean Township Supervisor Paul Williams, Township Clerk Judith Gurney, and Trustee Randall Johnson, who is the longest serving trustee.

But this time, the Rockton electoral board varied in membership depending on which objection was being heard. Township attorney Doug Henry worked out the details and helped run the hearing. Since Johnson was one of the candidates being challenged, deputy township clerk Kristina Schaffer was appointed to vote on Johnson's case (instead of Johnson himself). She also voted on the case of Ricarda Gomes (instead of Gurney). Henry said Schaffer was approved for the role by the chief judge of Winnebago County's 17th Judicial Circuit Court.

The situation was more complicated because Nolan himself is running for Township Supervisor against Randall Johnson. His organization, Gatekeepers Solutions, has endorsed Cliff Jensen for township clerk (not Judith Gurney), and Constance Gleasman, Gene Hermann, and Mike Lindt for trustee (not Vicky Ivy).

Henry arranged the electoral board so that no candidate for trustee was deciding who could run for trustee. Current trustee Randall Johnson is running for supervisor instead and current supervisor Paul Williams is not running at all.

Nolan said, "There's a lot of conflicts here, looks like."

Henry replied, "Well, I would say, not under the law, not under the Illinois law."

Nolan objected to Randall Johnson's running as an independent for Township Supervisor, because Johnson has previously voted Republican. Likewise, he objected to Vicky Ivy's candidacy, because she has previously voted Democrat.

Nolan's main objection: he argues that Illinois law disqualifies candidates from changing parties during a two-year election cycle. He objects to the common practice of partisan candidates running as independents. For example, in the 2021 Roscoe Township election, most of the Roscoe Independents candidates were registered Republicans.

Instead of accepting Nolan's theory, the Rockton electoral board decided that state law forbids candidates from changing parties after the primary and before the general election, not within their two-year term. So they ruled Johnson and Ivy would not be disqualified from running in the spring election, since the election cycle in question ended in November 2024.

Nolan also challenged the nomination of Ricarda Gomes because she didn't write the office she was running for on the front page of her candidacy form. Gomes admitted that was true, but said that the office of "Trustee" was included on all the signature pages. The Rockton electoral board agreed this was an innocent mistake and ruled not to disqualify Gomes either.

Nolan says he will appeal the decision to the circuit court. He cites a Republican mayoral candidate in Rockford who was removed from the ballot in part because he didn't staple his pages together. Nolan says if others are going to insist on the details, he can too. He says these discrepancies "undermine the election process and electorate confidence" because voters want to know what party a candidate stands behind.

Vicky Ivy disagreed, saying, "I've always ran as an independent... I think everybody on this board has integrity... Sometimes in the smaller elections, we don't vote the same that we vote in the presidential elections, because sometimes we have local people that can do more for these smaller townships... The big government is not going to trickle down for us. So sometimes we can change. We don't have to stay a Democrat in smaller elections... We can change. It's all right."

Noland, who is chairman of the Rockton Township Republican Central Committee, has filed objections against several other candidates, including two running for Hononegah School Board. One of them, Anthony Jenkins, has published a rebuttal against Nolan's objections. Nolan's organization helped to organize the Brave Books readings at Talcott Library.

A primary election is scheduled for February 25, 2025, but Republicans in both townships are holding party caucuses on Tuesday, Dec. 3, to choose candidates for the April 2025 consolidated election.