School Board Candidates In Chicago Heights, See Who Is Running

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL —Filing to run for school board in the April 2021 Consolidated Election has closed, with 693 candidates filed to run across Cook County. The candidate filing period ended on Dec. 21.

School board candidates brought their nomination petitions to the Cook County Clerk's office in downtown Chicago, the Elections Operations Center in Cicero and filing centers in Orland Park and Mt. Prospect.

Bloom Township High School District 206 candidates who filed are Henry Drake, Karen King, Anthony J Murphy, Theresa McCoy Carpenter, Elizabeth Morales, John A. Pina and Renatta Lavette Frazier.

Chicago Heights School District 170 candidates are James C 'Jimmy' Cordes, Adelena 'Adele' Palombi-Propst, Errick Stringfellow, Katherine 'Katie' Kelly, Joel A. Lopez De Nava, Lorena R. Varela, Sandra Lee Anderson and Bettye H. Faulkner-Ridley.

The Orland Park Civic Center saw the most traffic with 218 candidates submitting their paper work on Dec. 14, followed by Mt. Prospect (140), Cicero (70) and the Cook County Clerk's downtown office (54). A list of candidates who filed paperwork to run in April 2021 can be found on the Cook County Clerk's website.

Historically, most candidates, as they are running for suburban school district seats, file at the suburban locations.

"It is very exciting to see so many people actively participating in the democratic process in their local communities," Cook County Clerk Karen A. Yarbrough said in a news release. "These elections are often overlooked although they have the most impact on our day-to-day lives."

All candidates who were in line by 8 a.m. on Dec. 14 had their papers stamped with that time. If more than one candidate seeking the same office filed at 8 a.m., a lottery will be conducted to determine whose name will appear first on the ballot. Candidates for the same office who filed between 4 and 5 p.m. on Dec. 21, the last day of filing, will also be included in a ballot lottery for the last spot on the ballot. Anyone who filed between 8:01 a.m. on Dec. 14 and 3:59 p.m. on Dec. 21 will be on the ballot in the order they turned in their nomination paperwork.

Candidates for other local jurisdictions, such as municipalities and municipal park and library boards, filed with the district in which they are seeking election.

The Cook County Officers' Electoral Board, which is chaired by the clerk's designee and includes representatives from the State's Attorney and Circuit Court Clerk, oversees objections to school board candidates, in addition to hearing objections to library, police, fire and sanitary district candidacies. Municipal electoral boards hear objections to candidates for suburban municipal offices.

Candidates for other local jurisdictions, such as municipalities and municipal park and library boards, file with the district in which they are seeking election.