Judge: Bolingbrook Republican can reclaim ballot spot

A Will County judge today ruled to put a Bolingbrook Republican and tea party darling back on the ballot for a state Senate race.

Will County Associate Judge Bobbi Petrungaro overturned a 2-1 decision by the Will County Electoral Board to remove Cedra Crenshaw, 37, from the ballot over a technical issue with her nomination petitions. Crenshaw is vying to unseat Democratic state Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi in the 43rd District, which has been a Democratic stronghold since 1975.

The decision to remove Crenshaw from the ballot energized tea party members, who organized protests on the stay-at-home mom's behalf and showed up in patriotic T-shirts to her legal hearings.

"Finally, we can vindicate the 2,100 people who signed my petition and all the people in the district who are looking for an alternative," she said after learning of the ruling, which was filed at 4:01 p.m.

The decision comes about three months after Crenshaw's petitions were challenged. Earlier this month, the electoral board ruled her nomination petitions were invalid because her campaign had indicated on old forms that signatures were collected within 90 days of the filing deadline, even though a new state law requires that signatures be collected within 75.

In fact, Crenshaw collected signatures less than 20 days before the deadline since Republicans picked her to be their candidate on March 30 because no one in the GOP had run in the February primary.

After the electoral board ruling, her attorney, Burt Odelson, filed an appeal in Will County Circuit Court. On Tuesday, Petrungaro listened to both sides argue the minutia of state election law.

In her five-page ruling, Petrungaro said that state election law is unclear and "has not yet been reconciled by the legislature."

However, she said court precedent is clear and favors Crenshaw. "There was no evidence of fraud, nor was there any evidence of voter confusion ... No evidence was presented that the petitions were circulated in an untimely manner or that the Petitioner gained an unfair advantage over her opponents by circulating her petition in advance of the circulation period," the ruling said.

Will County Clerk Nancy Schultz Voots, the lone dissenting vote on the three-member electoral board, said she is glad the judge ruled quickly. Voots had also stated in the board's dissent that state election law is unclear.

Crenshaw said now her campaign can move forward.

"Now we're able to raise money," she said. "We weren't able to do that before because we couldn't answer this very important question of whether I would be on the ballot or not. Now, we are going to be able to get our message out."

Wilhelmi, 42, who has served in that seat since 2005, said he supports the court's decision and that the Democratic leadership does not plan to appeal. He said he looks forward to talking about his record and the significant progress made in job creation and economic development in the Will County area.

"I welcome Mrs. Crenshaw to the race and I look forward to discussing the issues that are important to Will County as well as the significant challenge we face in the state of Illinois," he said. "People want to hear what our solutions are for those challenges, and I look forward to discussing how we arrive at responsible solutions."

The election is in November.

-- Mary Owen, Triblocal