The crowded field for one of Chicago’s 10 first-time school board seats this fall narrowed slightly Tuesday, whittling the field to 44 candidates after three candidates filed papers to withdraw, according to the Chicago Board of Elections.
Of the 27 candidates whose nominating petitions are being challenged for their validity, nonprofit administrator Daniel Wallace, educator Darius Dee Nix and former Chicago Public Schools Superintendent James Walton have withdrawn from the races in the 6th, 8th and 10th districts, respectively.
The challenge to their candidacy, like all challenges filed with the Board of Elections, concerns alleged deviations from Illinois election law. To run for office, school board candidates must meet several requirements, including collecting at least 1,000 signatures of registered voters who live in the district they hope to represent, submitting a statement of candidacy, a voluntary oath of allegiance to the United States, and a statement disclosing financial interests.
As the Chicago Board of Elections held hearings on the challenges throughout the day, some candidates expressed confidence that their names will still be on the ballot when voters head to the polls in the Nov. 5 general election, while others lamented the politically motivated challenges that could derail their campaigns.
In the hotly contested 10th District, Brandon McGillware, a volunteer for Che “Rhymefest” Smith, told the Tribune he’d been asked to challenge five of Smith’s six remaining opponents to help the recording artist and community activist’s campaign. “No matter what happens, I’m with Smith in this process,” said McGillware, who also circulated a petition on Smith’s behalf. “Whatever he wants me to do in the campaign, if that’s what helps him win, I’m going to do it,” he added, declining to comment further.
Daniel Kleinman, a community organizer and former local school council member for Sen High School and Walt Disney Magnet School who is facing a ballot challenge in District 2, said his team is frustrated but prepared to take the hit. “This process can be abused,” he said of the challenges. “It can be used to waste time and resources. Time spent repeatedly checking (signatures) is not time spent calling supporters,” he said.
But Kleinman added that, speaking of those who signed his nominating petition, “I can’t hate on the game they’re playing. It’s strange how they can be disloyal when we’re standing in front of them.”
Attorney Andrew Finco’s clients include both candidate Karin Norrington Reeves, who is facing a challenge, and those who have filed a challenge against District 3 candidate Kirk J. Ortiz.
Illinois’ pen-and-ink-on-paper approach is outdated, Finko said: “A signature is no longer the standard for identity verification that it once was, and because everyone is signing on a clipboard in a hurry, signatures look different.”
But until a challenge is filed, the commission only counts the signatures and doesn’t have to verify that the signatures are genuine or from a district resident. That means the onus for compliance with election laws falls primarily on the challenger, Finco said. “There’s a presumption of validity. You can have 1,000 signatures, whether they’re in a candidate’s district or not, but if no one checks them, they’re all presumed valid,” he said.
“I’m trying to stay on the ballot.”
The hearing, held on the bottom floor of the Cook County Administration Building in the Loop, featured tables set up for each hearing officer to deliberate candidates and challengers, with a status update scheduled for July 15.
In most cases, the Chicago Board of Elections will begin the process of verifying each and every signature candidates get on Wednesday. Board spokesman Max Beaver said the process of verifying signatures can be a painstaking process that involves the use of handwriting experts.
Most of the seven candidates who appeared Tuesday were accompanied by lawyers, but District 5 candidate Joseph M. Shukoukani, an attorney, represented himself at the hearing. Shukoukani’s challenger, Mary Russell Gardner, also filed challenges against the other three candidates.
“It’s very frustrating because one (opponent) can undermine me,” Shukoukani said of his opposition. “To gather 1,067 signatures required me to work 3-4 hours a day after work, non-stop. I went to 6-9 grocery stores, dog parks. It was a great experience and I learned a lot along the way. I don’t know how many of the other candidates are actually going out and trying to gather all the signatures, but I’m just trying to stay on the ballot,” he said. “Maybe it’s because I care deeply about the education system in the United States, especially this backyard education system that my wife and I want to send our children to in the future,” Shukoukani said.
‘Surprising’ number of dissenting voices
Christopher Berry, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, said that while challenges to nominees are a “long-standing tradition in Chicago,” he was surprised by the number of challenges — 34 as of Tuesday afternoon.
“My guess is there is some kind of political organization behind this,” Berry said. “I didn’t expect something like this to happen in a school board election because we tend not to place much importance on school board elections. This doesn’t seem like something an inexperienced, rookie school board candidate would do on their own.”
The only unchallenged candidate in Ward 10, Adam Parrott Schaefer, got his name on the ballot, but the former CPS principal said he remains concerned that a challenge was filed against a less well-connected or politically illiterate candidate.
“I’m worried that we’re going to have school districts where there’s no choice, or where instead of having some options, it’s really going to be a decision between two people,” Parrott-Shafer said. “I don’t think that was our goal when elected school committees were passed. Our goal was to really elevate people’s voices and ensure there’s rich discussion and diversity in selecting people who are going to help us realize our vision for the school.”
In two races, the 3rd and 7th districts, every candidate faces at least one challenge.
Fellow 10th District candidate Karin Norrington Reeves, an attorney, has experience with the challenge process when she ran for representative from Illinois’ 1st Congressional District in 2022. The challenges speak to the competitive nature of the race, rather than “making sure that there are quality candidates for the voters,” she said in a phone interview with the Tribune.
“This is the neighborhood that produced Harold Washington, this is the neighborhood that produced Bobby Rush, this is a politically active neighborhood, this area has a significant number of educated black and brown people,” she said. “These are neighborhoods that represent people who have strong middle-class values and who are a little more civic-minded.”
Rosita Chatonda, founder of the Chicago Federation of Public Schools Educators and a former Chicago Public Schools teacher, said she has received three challenges but intends to move the bill to the next step in the hearing process and hopes it will remain on the ballot in Ward 10. Chatonda said she expected the challenges but was daunted to lead the response.
“We are local people,” Chatonda said, “We don’t have a huge team working behind us.”
