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Rita Maniotis knew that running a campaign for school board in Morton High School District 201 would be difficult, but she didn't anticipate a legal fight just to get on the ballot.
Paul Nosek of Berwyn and Alejandro Rueda of Cicero have filed a formal objection to Maniotis' nominating papers and thrown her candidacy into legal limbo.
Maniotis would represent the fourth candidate for the three open seats up for grabs in April's election. A successful objection to her candidacy would ensure that incumbents Jeffry Pesek and Micheal Iniquez win back their seats, and newcomer Mark Kraft would fill the seat vacated by Derek Dominick.
“I realize it's legal to object to anything you want to, but it's not necessarily ethical," Maniotis said. "They even objected to the signature of my son and daughter."
The challenge against Maniotis' candidacy alleges that many of her signatures are either not authentic or that the signees do not reside within the proper district boundaries. It also claims that Maniotis made a handful of technical errors in filling out the paper work.
A preliminary hearing was held on Friday at the district offices in Morton East High Schol, where both sides agreed to submit Maniotis' petition to the Cook County Board of Election for verification. The case was heard by current members of the school board.
Maniotis filed 79 signatures, but needed only 50 to be put on the ballot. If the county determines she has enough valid signatures, the technical objections will be heard.
Although school board elections are supposed to be non-partisan, Maniotis has previously run for state representative as a green party candidate, and Nosek is listed by the Illinois State Board of Elections as the previous Treasurer of the Democratic Citizens of Berwyn.
Nosek and Rueda's lawyer Dennis Gianopolus said politics did not play a role in the objection to Maniotis' candidacy.
“My clients are simply trying to make sure that the election law requirements in Illinois are being followed and that only candidates that have complied with the law are eligible to hold public office,” Gianopolus said.
According to Micheal DeBartolo, a lawyer with the Del Galdo Law Group who ran Friday's hearing, the review of Maniotis' signatures should be complete by the end of this week, at which point another hearing will be scheduled for the board to make a ruling.
Rita Maniotis knew that running a campaign for school board in Morton High School District 201 would be difficult, but she didn't anticipate a legal fight just to get on the ballot.
Paul Nosek of Berwyn and Alejandro Rueda of Cicero have filed a formal objection to Maniotis' nominating papers and thrown her candidacy into legal limbo.
Maniotis would represent the fourth candidate for the three open seats up for grabs in April's election. A successful objection to her candidacy would ensure that incumbents Jeffry Pesek and Micheal Iniquez win back their seats, and newcomer Mark Kraft would fill the seat vacated by Derek Dominick.
“I realize it's legal to object to anything you want to, but it's not necessarily ethical," Maniotis said. "They even objected to the signature of my son and daughter."
The challenge against Maniotis' candidacy alleges that many of her signatures are either not authentic or that the signees do not reside within the proper district boundaries. It also claims that Maniotis made a handful of technical errors in filling out the paper work.
A preliminary hearing was held on Friday at the district offices in Morton East High Schol, where both sides agreed to submit Maniotis' petition to the Cook County Board of Election for verification. The case was heard by current members of the school board.
Maniotis filed 79 signatures, but needed only 50 to be put on the ballot. If the county determines she has enough valid signatures, the technical objections will be heard.
Although school board elections are supposed to be non-partisan, Maniotis has previously run for state representative as a green party candidate, and Nosek is listed by the Illinois State Board of Elections as the previous Treasurer of the Democratic Citizens of Berwyn.
Nosek and Rueda's lawyer Dennis Gianopolus said politics did not play a role in the objection to Maniotis' candidacy.
“My clients are simply trying to make sure that the election law requirements in Illinois are being followed and that only candidates that have complied with the law are eligible to hold public office,” Gianopolus said.
According to Micheal DeBartolo, a lawyer with the Del Galdo Law Group who ran Friday's hearing, the review of Maniotis' signatures should be complete by the end of this week, at which point another hearing will be scheduled for the board to make a ruling.
In the mean time, Maniotis had a small swell of support at Friday's meeting as more than a dozen people showed up to support her, and 5 different people were sworn in as witnesses to verify their signatures on her petition. Maniotis said that she believes her petition will be confirmed, and that she would appeal even if the school district decided against her.
“My job now is to get affadavits from people to show that these are genuine signatures. With all the people that showed up that's a lot of worked knocked out for me,” Maniotis said. “We're also going to have a records check, and I feel confident that we can survive a records check.”
