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Electoral Board Keeps Buffalo Grove Trustee Candidate On Ballot


Matt Flamm (lower left), along with Jeff Berman (lower right) deliberate during a virtual electoral board hearing Jan. 20.

Following a four-plus hour hearing Wednesday, the Buffalo Grove Electoral Board on Friday, Jan. 22 voted 3-0 to keep resident Gowri Magati on the April 6 election ballot as one of five candidates running for three open village trustee seats.

The electoral board said there were discrepancies in her nominating signature petitions, but not enough evidence to remove her name from the ballot.

Jeff Berman, former longtime village trustee, objected to various signatures filed by Magati. 

Berman initially claimed that at least 43 of Magati’s 381 filed signatures were from non-registered voters, her petition contained at least two duplicate signatures, and at least 98 signatures did not appear to be genuine and/or did not match the official signatures on voter registration materials for individuals who signed the petition.

He also claimed at least two of the petition’s pages containing a total of nine signatures were not signed in front of Magati, resulting in 234 valid signatures — short of the 258 required to be placed on the ballot.

Berman said he has no hard feelings toward Magati and encourages anyone to run for public office, but they must do so within the boundaries of state law and election code. Otherwise, Berman said, any candidate that does not follow the proper procedures does not belong on the ballot.

Berman believed there was a pattern of fraud when it came to Magati’s nominating signatures. During his questioning of Magati at the hearing, she admitted there were several signatures that she obtained that were either emailed or collected from friends who helped her circulate the petitions. She said she was in the vicinity of many of those signing her petition, but some would not allow her in their home. Or, while she was obtaining one signature, friends would obtain signatures from another home. The election code states that Magati either had to personally witness every signature made on her petition, or if someone assisted in obtaining names, that individual had to sign the sheet as a circulator. However, Magati signed each page indicating she was the circulator.

She told Berman and the electoral board that she was under the impression she had to simply be near the person signing her petition, not directly in front of them.

By falsely stating she was the circulator on every page that she submitted to the village, Berman believed the entire submission was flawed and warranted her removal from the ballot. 

“She did not personally witness many of the signings contrary to her sworn oath,” Berman said. “There was a pattern of false swearing and disregard to the process of the election code.”

Berman also stated there were a substantial number of signatures on her petition that did not match those individuals’ signatures on file with Lake County.

Matt Flamm, attorney for Magati, told the electoral board that nowhere in Berman’s objection does he allege a pattern of fraud and he did not prove that there were 123 invalid signatures to throw her off the ballot. 

“I agree there was no fraud, but she did not witness some of these signatures specifically,” said Village President Beverly Sussman, chair of the electoral board. “It clearly says that when you sign the petition sheets swearing you witnessed those people signing the petition and she actually did not witness that, it puts it in a whole different light. She swore to things she did not witness.”

Village Clerk Jan Sirabian, who also serves on the electoral board, stated she has run for election 11 times in her career and has had people assist her in collecting signatures, but those people that helped would always sign each sheet as the circulator.

Magati responded by saying she believed she was the circulator regardless if someone else obtained signatures for her.

Flamm pointed out that Magati was in close proximity to people signing her petition and there are different interpretations when referring to someone signing in one’s presence. 

“There is no question she made mistakes, but not mistakes of fraud or malice,” Flamm said. 

The third electoral board member, Laura Jacksack, stated that ignorance of the law is no excuse, but in the end, Berman did not provide enough evidence to keep Magati off the ballot. 

Sirabian was the lone electoral board member who voted to have Magati removed. Sussman and Jacksack believed Magati had 349 valid signatures to keep her on the ballot. 

“Am I entirely surprised? No,” Berman said after the hearing, adding that the structure of the hearing prohibited him from bringing forward other evidence to support his argument of a pattern of false swearing and tainted petitions.

“It’s unfortunate, but I respect their ruling and understand their ruling,” he added.

During Friday’s vote, Sirabian said she believed Magati’s testimony was not credible.

“I believe there was a proven pattern of falsities in the petition and the falsities continued at the hearing,” Sirabian said. “I would have sustained the objection on that basis.”

Berman has five days to appeal to the circuit court.

Magati, along with challenger Mike Terson and current trustees Joanne Johnson, Les Ottenheimer and Andrew Stein are running for three, four-year seats on the Buffalo Grove Village Board.

 

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