THORNTON TOWNSHIP, Ill. (WLS) — Allies of Thornton Township Supervisor Tiffany Henyard were successful in getting some of her challengers kicked off the April 1 general election ballot.
“Just for the record, the written decision is that Mr. Nate fields name will not appear on the ballot,” said electoral board attorney Tiffany Nelson-Jaworski.
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Thornton Township resident Michael Smith was behind many of Tuesday’s objections.
“Based on those things alone, this document should be overruled,” Smith said.
After a short hearing, the electoral board voted to remove Nate Fields Jr.’s name from the ballot. He was running for supervisor.
“I don’t think this is fair. I think we’re making a big mistake right now,” Fields said.
Fields is vowing to appeal the decision, which was based on the board’s belief that he missed key procedural steps in the filing process.
“The one particular statement of candidacy wasn’t binded properly to the rest the petition packet,” said Thornton Township Food Pantry Director Keith Price.
The meeting began Tuesday morning and took place at the township’s headquarters in south suburban South Holland.
At least one other supervisor candidate got kicked off the ballot because he did not have enough nominating signatures.
This all comes as Henyard is working to get herself on the ballot after losing in a rare Democratic caucus vote a few weeks ago to represent the party. State Sen. Napleon Harris ended up being nominated as the Democratic challenger.
Since then, Henyard has filed multiple lawsuits against both the Thornton Township Democratic Party and Harris, alleging neither she nor her supporters were allowed in the meeting, which impacted the results and violated township code.
Harris and the Thornton Township Democratic Party say they followed state statutes and party rules. Henyard says the attacks against her are about control.
“Right now, I have the largest township in the state of Illinois. I run 17 different cities, including my own, Dolton, and people want to control it. And right now, they cannot do that with Tiffany Henyard. I’m no puppet to anybody,” Henyard said.
Henyard is still facing FBI scrutiny for her handling of finances as township supervisor and as mayor of Dolton but has denied any wrongdoing.
On Tuesday night, Henyard warned of a possible Thornton Township shutdown if insurance is not approved by the board as two township trustees have continued to boycott multiple meetings.
The board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday.
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