Two prospective Naperville City Council candidates may not be allowed to run in the spring municipal election if claims their nominating petitions are invalid are upheld.
Three Naperville residents are challenging the nominating papers of Farid Malik Shabazz and Nag Jaiswal. They are two of nine candidates vying for one of four seats up for grabs in Naperville’s 2025 election, which is set for April 1.
The objections are going before a three-person local electoral board on Wednesday in the Naperville Municipal Center council chambers. Hearings will begin at 1:30 p.m. Electoral board members include Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli, city clerk Dawn Portner and City Councilman Patrick Kelly.
The Naperville City Council candidate nomimating petitions for Nag Jaiswal have been challenged for allegedly not having enough valid signatures. A hearing on the complaint is set for Wednesday. (Supplied photo)
Board members will evaluate the objections and render a determination as to their merits, the city said in a news release Thursday. The objection to Jaiswal’s candidacy will be heard first, followed by the challenge to Shabazz’s.
Both complaints were filed by Dianne McGuire, Nancy Turner and Mark Urda, objection documents show. McGuire is the co-founder of Indivisible Naperville and the former chairwoman of Naperville Township Democratic Organization. Turner, also of Indivisible Naperville, formerly served on the city’s Special Events and Community Arts Commission. Urda is a former city council candidate and currently serves on the board of directors of Naperville Preservation Inc.
Their objection to Shabazz’s nominating petition concerns his name. They contend that his nomination papers should be nullified because he “held himself out under different varieties of names and a/k/a identifiers to hundreds of voters and the city of Naperville,” their objection reads.
The problem comes down to Shabazz undergoing a recent legal name change.
Last year, he changed his name in DuPage County Circuit Court from David Lee Hughes to what he now officially goes by, Farid Malik Shabazz, according to online court records. The objection to his nomination, however, contends that he failed to adequately disclose that name change to voters as he petitioned for candidacy, as is required by the state.
Illinois law states that if a candidate has changed their name within three years by a statutory or common law procedure before the last day to file for a position in office, they must disclose that name change on their petition sheets. The objection says that Shabazz didn’t do so on 18 separate petition sheets, in turn mischaracterizing him as a candidate.
“It is difficult to imagine a more important or consequential requirement than the accuracy of a candidate’s name and change history,” the objection reads. “The candidate’s current and former names are the only means by which voters can do research to learn about a candidate, or follow news about a candidate. Without an accurate name to go on, voters can be easily misled and misinformed.”
Shabazz, reached by phone Friday, maintains, “It wasn’t an intention to fool … a voter into thinking this or that.”
He’s been going by Farid Malik Shabazz for years, long before he formally made the change in court, he said. He changed his name for religious reasons when he converted from Christianity to Islam, he said. It wasn’t until he knew he “wanted to be in the political arena” that he realized he had to “make my name, my name,” he said.
Shabazz said he’s been living in Naperville on and off for 20 years. He said he wants to run for Naperville City Council because, “I love living here … I love the community, I love the people, I love all the things that go on in Naperville, and I want to be a big part of it. And I also want to help the community grow.”
In response to the objection against his candidacy, Shabazz implored those behind it to rescind their complaint through a post on Facebook.
“I was naive enough to believe Democrat leaders wanted to help minorities. Now (it’s) clear to me they only want to help themselves,” the post read. “Diane McGuire, Nancy Turner, and Mark Urda you are hateful. You are bullies. You are racists. … Withdraw your complaint and give a Black man a chance.”
Shabazz on Friday said he stood behind the statement. As of late Friday afternoon, however, the post was apparently deleted. Shabazz instead posted a new statement that read: “I was warned that local Democratic Party people would try to make me withdraw and cause me issues. It’s a frivolous complaint. Turning local races partisan and picking on minority candidates.”
He added Friday, “I don’t have harsh feelings towards them. I guess they’re doing what they’re supposed to do. I wish them well.”
Shabazz just wants to be on the ballot, he said. “I just want to also exercise my right to be a part of the city, to work for the city, work for the people of the city and try to make a difference in the city.”
As for McGuire, Turner and Urda’s second challenge to Jaiswal’s nomination papers, they’re asking that his candidacy be voided because he doesn’t have enough sound signatures to qualify. Their objection argues that 317 of the signatures that Jaiswal collected are invalid, so he can’t be placed on the ballot.
This is the second municipal election cycle in a row that several prospective candidates for Naperville City Council have had their nominating papers questioned.
Ahead of the 2023 consolidated election, mayoral candidate Tiffany Stephens and city council candidate Derek McDaniel, who is again running this year, had their filings challenged. Ultimately, Stephens was allowed to stay on the ballot. McDaniel was not.
