Naperville City Council candidate Farid Shabazz was taken off the ballot for the city’s upcoming consolidated general election in April 2025.
The decision came through a 2-1 vote from the Municipal Officers Electoral Board at a hearing on Wednesday.
Why was Shabazz’s petition challenged?
Shabazz’s candidate petition was challenged by three Naperville residents: Dianne A. McGuire, Nancy Hans Turner, and Mark Vincent Urda. The group’s primary issue centered around inconsistencies with the candidate’s listed name.
Shabazz had officially changed his name from David Hughes in May 2023, but he failed to note his name change on 18 of the 54 pages of the petition.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the candidate distinguished Hughes, his birth name, from Shabazz, his religious name. Shabazz represented himself in the case.
“As a Muslim, we have a Muslim name that we use to describe who we are… For the last 20-something years, I’ve been known as Farid Shabazz. No one in the state of Illinois should know me as David Hughes unless it’s a legal issue,” said Shabazz. “There was no deception on my behalf.”
The objection cited Sec. 7-10.2 of the Illinois Election Code, which states if a candidate has changed his or her name within three years of filing an election petition, their name on the ballot must be followed by “formerly known as.” The section of the code also states a candidate’s petition must include an affidavit stating their previous name(s) and the date those name(s) were changed.
Failure to meet either of these requirements, the code says, is grounds for disqualification from the ballot. Both of these were missing from Shabazz’s petition.
Mario Palermo, the attorney representing the objectors, argued there was no room for discretion in this case.
“It’s clear as a matter of Illinois law what needs to be done,” Palermo said.
Electoral board sides with objectors
After deliberations from both parties, the Municipal Officers Electoral Board, made up of Mayor Scott Wehrli, Councilman Patrick Kelly, and City Clerk Dawn Portner, voiced their opinions.
While reading a written statement, Kelly said it was clear Shabazz did not “substantially comply” with the city’s election standards.
“Even though it would be an unfortunate result for a resident who is just hoping to serve their community in our role, where we have to attempt to be as objective as possible, I just do not see a way around (this) problem,” said Kelly.
Urda, one of the objectors, spoke briefly with Shabazz during a short recess in the hearing while city staff prepared the written decision.
“(I told him) we don’t want you to withdraw from the political discourse… but the election law is very tight, dotting the i’s, crossing the t’s, it has to be done,” Urda said.
In the end, the electoral board ruled 2-1 in the objectors’ favor. Wehrli was the lone vote for Shabazz.
After the ruling, Shabazz admitted the errors and called it a “teachable moment.” He said he would not appeal the decision from the electoral board.
“I made a couple of mistakes that won’t happen again,” said Shabazz. “(It was) my first time running, so it was a learning experience.”
Jaiswal’s hearing continued to investigate signatures
The other petition in question on Wednesday was of city council candidate Nag Jaiswal.
The same group of Naperville residents that challenged Shabazz’s petition also challenged Jaiswal’s. They questioned the validity of 184 of the more than 400 signatures on his petition. All candidates must have 317 valid signatures to be on the ballot.
The electoral board approved a record check of Jaiswal’s signatures from Naperville Senior Assistant Attorney Kristen Toberman. The group will reconvene on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 9 a.m. to review Jaiswal’s case.
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