The Aurora electoral board plans to issue a final decision on Monday on whether two referendum questions that would create a mechanism to recall a sitting mayor and at-large aldermen can be placed on the Nov. 3 ballot, the board announced after a meeting Friday.
Deadlines and administrative pressure
County clerks have told the board they need a determination by the close of business Monday to be able to include the questions on the November ballot, Special Assistant DuPage County State’s Attorney Patrick Bond told the electoral board during Friday’s meeting. “We would just ask that you use all haste and try and get this resolved,” Bond said, noting clerks are primarily focused on knowing what the ballot will look like and how to prepare it.
The compressed time frame raises practical concerns for election administrators tasked with printing ballots, programming tabulators and informing voters about the content of the ballot ahead of the Nov. 3 vote.
Legal questions at the centre of review
The board’s review is focused on several legal issues: whether Aurora and its voters have the constitutional authority to adopt the proposed recall system; whether a recall election could be held on a date other than an already scheduled election day; whether the two referendum inquiries improperly combine separate questions; and whether the referendum language would allow the proposed system to operate legally should voters approve it.
Those issues were raised by the referendum’s proponents and their counsel. The primary proponent is identified as Adam Pauley, an organiser with the group Aurora for Change, the board was told by the proponents’ attorney John Fogarty.
“None of the clerks care what the decision is, they just want to know what their ballot is going to look like and how they can build that.” — Patrick Bond, Special Assistant DuPage County State’s Attorney
Signatures: one question meets the threshold; the other remains unclear
During the Friday meeting, the board announced the results of an examination of voter-registration records connected to the referendum drive. According to the board’s legal counsel, Jason Guisinger, the number of petition signatures supporting the mayoral recall question met the stated minimum requirement for placement on the ballot.
By contrast, it remains uncertain whether the petition signatures supporting the aldermanic recall question meet the minimum requirement, and the exact minimum number itself remains in dispute. Fogarty told the board that the minimum is calculated as 8 per cent of the gubernatorial vote in 2022, but that determining that figure has been complicated by split precincts.
Officials said the board will decide Monday on what the minimum number of valid signatures is and whether the petitions meet that threshold.
- Decision date: Monday (board to determine ballot inclusion and signature threshold)
- Ballot deadline: county clerks need an answer by end of business Monday to include questions on Nov. 3 ballot
- Key legal issues: constitutional authority, timing of recall elections, combined-question concerns, operability of proposed system
| Stakeholder | Role |
|---|---|
| Electoral board | Decide whether referendum questions appear on ballot |
| County clerks | Need final ballot content to prepare for Nov. 3 election |
| Proponent (Adam Pauley) | Organiser behind Aurora for Change; primary proponent of referendum |
| Counsel (John Fogarty) | Represents proponent; raised legal and signature-count issues |
| Board legal counsel (Jason Guisinger) | Reported mayoral petition met minimum signature requirement |
The board did not reach a final decision at Friday’s meeting. Observers and election officials will look to Monday’s ruling not only for whether the referendum questions proceed to voters but for guidance on how signature thresholds are to be calculated where precinct boundaries are split.
Whatever the board decides, the time pressures described by election administrators underscore how procedural rulings at the local level can have immediate operational effects on how an election is run and how voters encounter questions on their ballots.
Election officials will be watching closely for the board’s Monday findings and any legal rationale that accompanies them, which will determine whether Aurora voters will have the option in November to approve a new local recall mechanism.
