Final 2019 Park Forest Village Trustee and Mayoral Forums: Video

Park Forest, IL-(ENEWSPF)- The final forums for Village Trustee and Mayor of Park Forest were held on Sunday, March 17. Volunteers from the Park Forest Non-Partisan Committee organized the gathering which was sponsored by the five cooperatives of Park Forest.

A forum was also held for Library Trustee candidates. Linda E. Marron was the only candidate to show for that forum. She answered numerous questions very well.

We offer the forum videos below for those who were not able to attend and those who wish to watch the forums more closely.

The moderator for each forum was Judge Raymond Funderburk (Ret.), a long-time resident of Park Forest.

A breakdown and analysis of each forum will follow this week.

Village Trustee Forum

Raymond Funderburk, Candyce Herron — Moderator Raymond Funderburk listens as candidate Candyce Herron answers a question. (Photo: Gary Kopycinski)

There are three candidates running for three open seats for Village Trustee: Tiffani Graham, Candyce Herron, and Joseph Woods.

The forum follows:

Mayoral Forum

For the mayoral forum, write-in candidates Sean P. Hightower and Renee Hawthorne joined the three candidates who are on the ballot: Mae Brandon, JeRome Brown, and Jonathan Vanderbilt.

Ms. Hawthorne filed paperwork to be a write-in candidate for mayor of Park Forest with Cook County only. She did not file paperwork for the Will County. This means that write-in votes cast for Ms. Hawthorne in the Cook County portion of Park Forest will be counted, but write-in votes for Ms. Hawthorne in the Will County portion of Park Forest will not be counted.

Mr. Sean P. Hightower filed to be a write-in candidate for mayor in both Cook and Will Counties. Write-in votes for Mr. Hightower will be counted in both jurisdictions.

Here are the rules for write-in candidates, first from Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough:

Prospective write-in candidates in Illinois must file paperwork with the county clerk, or election authority, in each jurisdiction where their name will appear on the ballot.
In suburban Cook County, a write-in candidate must submit a Write-in Candidate Declaration of Intent form at the Cook County Clerk’s downtown Chicago office, 69 W. Washington St., Fifth Floor.
The Clerk’s office will provide a list of eligible write-in candidates to each precinct on Election Day. This list enables election judges to determine which write-in candidates are running in their precinct. Only votes for eligible write-in candidates are counted.
Voters can vote for a write-in candidate on a paper ballot or a touch screen.

Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry says the following, “To be a valid Write-In candidate, you must complete a Declaration of Intent to be a Write-In Candidate form no later than 61 days prior to an election.”

Why must candidates file to run as write-in candidates? The simple analysis goes something like this: With votes only counting for those who file, this ensures that “None of the Above” or “Mickey Mouse” would never get elected. Unless, of course, someone actually named “None of the Above” or “Mickey Mouse” actually filed to run as write-in candidates.

The last day to file to be a write-in candidate for April 2, 2019 Consolidated Election was January 31, 2019. Ms. Hawthorne did not file in Will County.

Video from the Mayoral Forum follows: