Candidate loses bid to get on ballot as independent
By Cindy Wojdyla Cain ccain@stmedianetwork.com September 14, 2012 2:34PM
Katrina Deutsche
Updated: October 17, 2012 6:32AM
Will County Board member Katrina Deutsche has lost her fight to stay on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Deutsche (D-Crete) filed to run for re-election as a Democrat in the primary, but her nominating petitions were challenged and she withdrew.
In June, Deutsche tried to file new nominating papers so she could run in the Nov. 6 election as an independent.
Will County Clerk Nancy Schultz Voots refused to accept the petitions because a new state law prohibits the move.
According to the new law, primary candidates who file a statement of candidacy from an established political party cannot run as an independent candidate in the subsequent general election.
Deutsche appealed Voots’ decision but Circuit Court Judge Susan O’Leary backed Voots. Deutsche appealed to the Illinois Appellate Court, but the court denied her appeal.
Deutsche, who was elected to the board in 2008, said that when she decided to run as an independent in November, there was no rule prohibiting it as long as her name had not appeared on the primary ballot.
The new law was passed March 30.
“I think it’s a good case of how the political system is stacked against independents,” she said.
While she knows she won’t be on the county board after the election, Deutsche said she has enjoyed her time in office.
“I loved serving the people, and I’ll still stay involved in the community, just as I was before I ever got on the board,” she said. “I met people and learned all kinds of things. It was a fantastic experience.”
