A Madison County Electoral Board hearing on Monday made it clear that a divide still exists in the local Republican Party.
One case before the three-member board required them to decide whether to remove incumbent Republican County Clerk Linda Andreas’ name from the March 17, 2026, primary election ballot. An activist aligned with her GOP opponent, former Madison County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler, had filed an objection to her candidate paperwork.
The objector, Harold Wathan Jr., president of the Madison County Conservative Caucus, pointed out that all of Andreas’ nominating petitions listed the wrong handwritten election date of March 17, 2025.
“(The county clerk’s office) is charged with running elections,” he said after the hearing. “She’s supposed to make sure paperwork is correct. She counsels other people on what to do.”
Ultimately, the board — comprised of State’s Attorney Tom Haine, Circuit Clerk Patrick McRae and Sheriff Jeff Connor, all Republicans — voted to allow Andreas’ name to remain on the ballot.
Andreas’ attorney, John Hanson, had argued that state law doesn’t require dates on nominating petitions, despite a place for them on the Illinois State Board of Elections form. Haine cited a 2019 appellate court decision that he said supported this position.
Wathan’s attorney, Thomas Maag, maintained that dates are required on nominating petitions to ensure candidates are collecting signatures within the specified time period rather than stockpiling them for later use.
“The date of the election is critical,” he said.
Andreas is a boutique owner and retired nurse and educator. She was elected county clerk in November 2022, defeating incumbent Debbie Ming-Mendoza, a Democrat.
Prenzler served as county board chairman from 2016 to 2024. Last year, he was defeated by Republican Chris Slusser in the primary. Next year, the GOP nominee for county clerk will face Democrat Rachelle Nicole Bauerle in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election.
On Monday, Andreas told Electoral Board members that she wrote “2025” instead of “2026” on her nominating petitions by mistake, not intending to deceive anyone. Hanson called it a “scrivener’s error.”
In an interview, Andreas described the hearing as an “opportunity to educate people on how the process works.”
“Some people think I should be embarrassed (about the incorrect date), but I’m not,” she said. “As if the county clerk can’t make a mistake. I don’t have a staff working on my petitions. It’s just me and my husband. With elections, I have a full staff working on them.”
Wathan promised to appeal the Electoral Board’s decision through Madison County Circuit Court.
Monday’s hearing required a bit of musical chairs. The board’s regular members are Andreas, who serves as chair, Haine and McRae. After ruling on objections involving other candidates, Andreas recused herself for her case.
The next official in line, Treasurer Mike Babcock, also recused himself due to another irregularity in Andreas’ candidate paperwork. Eighty-five of her pages were mixed with two of Babcock’s petitions, which were circulated by the same person. That led Connor to step in.
“It’s just another example of the level of detail – or lack of detail – that (Andreas) brings to the office and the level of concern she has about the integrity of elections,” Wathan said.
The Conservative Caucus supported Andreas in the 2022 election. But, according to Wathan, she failed to fulfill her promises to make big improvements in the county clerk’s office.
Andreas disagrees. She noted that she recently collaborated with the county coroner’s office to identify about 100 deceased Madison County residents who were still registered to vote.
Wathan asked why that wasn’t done three years ago, when Andreas was first elected. He called Prenzler a “good steward” of taxpayer money and “passionate” about fair elections.
“I know what kind of job I’m doing,” Andreas said. “You look up any newspaper article since the time I started, and they’re all positive. Things that I’ve done, they’re all good.”
Editor's note: This story was originally published by the Belleville News-Democrat. Teri Maddox is a reporter for the BND, a news partner of St. Louis Public Radio.
