By HOI ABC

BLOOMINGTON – Five Republican candidates for the McLean County Board, including the current board chairman, face possible removal from the June primary ballot because of technical errors with the nominating petitions they filed earlier this month.

Just before Monday’s 4:30 p.m. deadline, some local Democrats filed challenges to the petitions which contain voters’ signatures.

The challenges allege the candidates didn’t number the pages to the documents, as is required.

Candidates accused of violating that rule are District 1 incumbent board member Catherine Metsker, County Board Chair John McIntyre and Hannah Blumenshine – both from District 5, Vicki Schultz in District 8, and Annette Fellows in District 9.

An electoral board composed of representatives from the county clerk’s office, the circuit clerk’s office, and the state’s attorney’s office – all run by Republicans – are scheduled to consider the challenges at a hearing on Monday.

The board’s decision can be appealed in court, but even if the candidates lose their place on the ballot, McLean County Republican Chair Connie Beard said the party intends to put them on the November general election ballot.

Beard released a statement on Wednesday:

“It was announced Tuesday that members of the Democratic party in McLean County filed objections to 5 Republican County Board candidates on the petty basis of an omission of numbering the petition pages. Now a commission must be held at taxpayer expense to review the objections.

We, as Republicans, had the same opportunity on Monday to challenge and call for the removal of Democratic candidates who made the very same mistake. However, McLean County Republicans believe voters need a choice at the ballot box and we will never give up in that effort. That’s why despite this petty attempt to deprive voters of their right to choose, we will slate these very same dedicated McLean County public servants to be on the ballot for November.

The Democrats who took this hypocritical path knew these same candidates could be slated following the June Primary. Yet, they still took the low road to make a headline. Republicans had the same opportunity to try to remove local democratic candidates from the ballot, but we chose the high road. This action has caused a waste of taxpayer dollars, clear and simple.”

Patrick Cortesi, McLean County Democrats’ chair, said in the following statement that voters have a right to know if candidates can follow rules.

“I’m not going to weigh in on the details of a pending case. But I will say this: If the voters in those districts have questions about the legality of a potential candidate’s petitions, it is absolutely their right to have it investigated. They deserve to know if their potential elected representatives are capable of following the rules.”

Filing the challenges on Monday were Shayna Watchinski, Jill Blair, Anna Darrow, Cara McMorris, and Sarah Breeden. Watchinski is an incumbent District 8 County Board member who is not running for reelection, while Blair ran an unsuccessful campaign in 2018 challenging Republican State Rep. Keith Sommer.