Nag Jaiswal is allowed to run for Naperville City Council in April despite an objection to his nominating petitions, a city electoral board ruled Thursday.
Jaiswal, who is running for council for the second time, says he’s appreciative of the ruling.
“Thankful to the electoral board, my attorney, family and supporters for backing me during this very challenging time,” he said in a text statement Thursday. “I am looking forward to (serving) Naperville in 2025.”
The ruling comes in response to a challenge to Jaiswal’s candidacy filed by Naperville residents Dianne McGuire, Nancy Turner and Mark Urda last month. Their complaint alleged Jaiswal did not have enough valid petition signatures to qualify for the ballot in Naperville’s municipal election next spring and asked that his candidacy be voided.
The objectors, as well as Jeffrey Meyer, Jaiswal’s attorney, appeared before a local electoral board Thursday morning in the Naperville Municipal Center council chambers for a hearing on the matter. After reviewing evidence and listening to arguments from both parties, the board — made up of Mayor Scott Wehrli, City Clerk Dawn Portner and City Councilman Patrick Kelly — ultimately voted 3-0 in favor of Jaiswal.
The board’s decision is final but appealable.
Whether or not McGuire, Turner and Urda would appeal has not yet been discussed, they said after the board’s ruling.
The root of McGuire, Turner and Urda’s complaint was that 102 of the 414 signatures that Jaiswal submitted to qualify for the April ballot are not valid, they alleged. Candidates must have at least 317 valid signatures to qualify.
Thursday’s hearing was the continuation of proceedings started three weeks ago. Jaiswal’s case initially went before the board at a hearing on Nov. 13. However, the board at the time said they couldn’t make a decision because they needed more information to verify whether any of Jaiswal’s signatures were really invalid. The board continued the case to allow time for a record check on Jaiswal’s nominating papers.
Through a record check, the city verifies a candidate’s nominating signatures against voting records from both Will and DuPage counties. Kristen Toberman, senior assistant city attorney, conducted a check of Jaiswal’s challenged signatures on Nov. 20, according to city documents.
Of the 102 signatures that objectors questioned, Toberman sided with them on 65, overruling the remaining 37. That still left Jaiswal with 349 valid signatures — 32 more than the minimum required for qualification.
Objectors would have needed the record check to sustain 98 of their challenges to prompt Jaiswal’s removal from the ballot.
“A significant amount of these were (overruled),” Urda said, “which they should not have been in my humble … non-legal opinion.”
Results from the record check aside, another detriment to the objectors’ case was that they couldn’t formally challenge Toberman’s findings before the electoral board Thursday because of a procedural error on their part.
Board rules state that a party may object to the results of a record check as long as they do so no later than 48 hours after the review is completed. Toberman concluded her review at 12:15 p.m. on Nov. 20, meaning that the window for objections was open until just after noon Nov. 22.
The city did not receive a motion to correct and object to the record review from McGuire, Turner and Urda until Nov. 26 at 4:40 p.m., according to city attorney Mike DiSanto.
Jeffrey Jacobson, the objectors’ attorney, explained to the board that he tried to send the motion on the morning of Nov. 22 but that “when I clicked send, my system didn’t send it.”
Despite the late motion, the board did have the discretionary power to still hear objectors’ challenge to Toberman’s findings. The board, however, did not.
Meyer, on behalf of Jaiswal, argued the late motion “prejudiced” his client.
“The four-day difference in time between when it was due and when it was filed is to the prejudice of the candidate,” he said. “Had they filed a … motion with what’s customarily included — affidavits, additional public records, things of that nature — that … gives us an opportunity to go out and collect rebuttal affidavits.”
The board accepted Toberman’s findings and unanimously overruled objectors’ challenge to Jaiswal’s candidacy.
Following the ruling, Urda said that while he was “disappointed,” he had “no problems with the outcome.”
“It’s fair. It’s transparent,” he said. “The law should be applied equally to all.”
Meanwhile, though the ruling didn’t side in his clients’ favor, Jacobson said their objection was a lesson in itself.
“There’s a general philosophy that people should be able to be on the ballot and let voters decide,” he said. “However, the reason for the nominating petition is to make sure the person can comply with the minimal standards of any office of government.
“The fact that he couldn’t fill in forms … shows us that this person shouldn’t be on the ballot.”
Jaiswal is one of eight candidates vying for one of four council seats up for grabs in the 2025 election, which is set for April 1. Initially, there had been nine people in the pool, but hopeful candidate Farid Malik Shabazz was removed from the ballot last month.