Pantagraph.com Weather forecast, local radar and more
NewsFriday, August 31, 2007 5:15 PM CDT
Comments Comments (1) | E-mail this page E-mail this page | Print this page Print this page | Enlarge type Enlarge type | Reduce type Reduce type | Search archives Search archives | RSS RSS feeds | Add to My Yahoo! Add to My Yahoo!
Judge tosses Cooksville election complaint
By Edith Brady-Lunny
eblunny@pantagraph.com
Advertisement

BLOOMINGTON -- A judge dismissed a complaint from a Cooksville woman Friday that the election of village trustees should be tossed out because local officials violated election rules.

Nadene Ratcliffe filed the lawsuit in May charging that candidates elected to Village Board posts did not file nominating petitions and the village clerk failed to post notices of the election.

‘They took the law into their own hands and issued themselves a place on the ballot illegally,” Ratcliffe argued to Judge James Souk. Ratcliffe, a third-grade teacher, argued for about 45 minutes on her own behalf, citing more than 15 state laws governing elections.

Village attorney Gordon Kinate asked that the lawsuit be dismissed because Ratcliffe missed deadlines to object to the way the election was handled. He said Racliffe had five days after the deadline for nominating petitions to raise objections.

Ratcliffe accused trustees Roger Clark, Tonya Anderson, Paul Weir, DeLoris Stroh, Dan Wismiller and Clerk Rhonda Volz of conspiring to keep the election a secret.

When Souk said he was mystified by the concept of a secret election, Ratcliffe responded that Cooksville is “a sleepy little town where people are not so aware of what’s going on in the town hall unless they need something fixed.”

In his ruling, Souk said he took into account what he considered to be the heart of the matter: “People appeared on the ballot who hadn’t filed nominating petitions.” If the allegations raised by Ratcliffe were correct, said Souk, “it is a matter that could and should have been addressed prior to the election.”

Ratcliffe commented to Souk after the ruling that “hopefully in the future, the town board will understand they are not above the law and understand the election process.”

She said outside the hearing that she is considering an appeal of the decision.

Souk closed the hearing by saying, “I’m sure they will take a look and cross their t’s and dot their i’s next time.”

Video
Most commented stories
Browse online archives
Recent issues:
Reader comments on this story - 1 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

OMG wrote on Aug 31, 2007 3:12 PM:

" With Souk as the judge this comes as no big surprise that the woman lost her case... "
Add your own comments

Please read the rules before posting comments.

You must be logged in to leave comments.
If you don't have a member ID, please register.

*Member ID:
*Password:
Remember login?
(requires cookies)
  Forgot Your Password?
 
Lee Enterprises Customer Service | 301 W. Washington St., PO Box 2907, Bloomington, IL 61701-2907 | Ph. 309-829-9000 | 800-747-7323
Copyright © 2008, Pantagraph Publishing Co. and Lee Enterprises. All rights reserved. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy