Judge Rules Mary Fultz Not Eligible to Sit on East Aurora School Board

UPDATED with comment from Mary Fultz.

A Kane County judge has ruled that community activist Mary Fultz was not a registered voter at the time of the April 5 election, and is not eligible to serve on the East Aurora School District 131 Board of Education.

Fultz, 45, won a seat on that board with 980 votes, but the school board challenged her eligibility in court. Records from both the Aurora Election Commission and the Kane County Clerk’s office indicate that she was not a registered voter in either jurisdiction on April 5.

On Wednesday, Judge Thomas Mueller ordered a default judgment against Fultz, who, according to court records, did not appear in court and did not file responses to the school board’s complaint within the required time.

Records show a copy of the summons and the complaint were left with Fultz’s mother, Beulah Fultz, on May 13, and an additional copy was mailed to her Aurora address on May 17.

Mueller’s ruling finds Fultz “was not a registered voter as required by the Illinois School Code as an eligibility criteria for holding the office of member of the Board of Education of School District 131, and as such, her election to said office is hereby determined to be void.”

East School Board President Annette Johnson said the board likely would formally declare the seat vacant at Monday’s meeting. The board will then reappoint a new member, subject to the same criteria, she said.

In addition to being a registered voter, candidates for the board must be 18, a citizen of the United States and have been a resident of the school district for at least one year prior to the election, according to state law.

The position will be advertised for 10 days, Johnson said, and the board will then select a new member from the applicants.

Johnson said she was surprised that Fultz never defended herself in court against the charges. She said the board is eager to put the controversy behind them.

Reached Friday afternoon, Fultz said she was unaware of the default judgment against her but added that it is a sign of the divided East Aurora community.

"I'm still a board member to the community," she said. "We still won."

Records show that Fultz had been a Kane County voter through April 2008, living in North Aurora, but her registration was suspended during one of the county’s purges of the system, intended to remove inactive voters. These purges are conducted every two years.

Fultz did vote in the November 2008 election in North Aurora, after her registration had been suspended. Linda Mitchell, director of elections for Kane County, said her suspension must have been missed at the polls. Fultz did not reregister with Aurora when she moved back to the city in early 2010.