Brian Brubaker, left, and incumbent Russell Kraly are running for Round Lake mayor in the April 2025 election.
Five candidates running together for seats on the Round Lake village board will stay on the April 1 ballot, but they won’t be listed as part of a new political party.
By a 2-1 vote, the three-member Round Lake Electoral Board struck the party designation but allowed mayoral candidate Brian Brubaker and trustee candidates John Boyk, Howard Schultz, Kevin Strine and Juan Antonio DeLuna Inguesto to stay in the race.
The five had filed to run as a new political party called Round Lake Forward.
Brubaker, currently a trustee, is challenging Mayor Russell Kraly. Boyk and Strine also are incumbent trustees. DeLuna Ingues is running unopposed for a two-year term.
Incumbent Sanjay Patel and Elisabeth Efird also are running for four-year village trustee terms.
Charlie Foy, a former two-term village trustee and police chief, objected to the candidacies, arguing that Round Lake Forward had previously formed for the 2023 municipal election and received the votes to classify it as such. Despite that, Round Lake Forward filed as a new party this year, Foy said in his objection.
The candidates said the filing as a new political party was unintentional and wasn’t meant to undermine or evade or state election requirements. Strine said the candidates were under the impression that because the party members were different this year, they were filing as a new party.
They argued the appropriate decision would be to allow the candidates to remain on the ballot with no party designation.
All three electoral board commissioners agreed there was no intentional effort to violate the rules. Commissioners Stacy Michael and Carolina Schottland voted to strike the party designation but keep the names on the ballot.
Panel Chair Diane Winter agreed the candidates’ mistake was “simply an error” but upheld the objections.
Brubaker ran with Strine, Mark Amann, Sergio Rodriguez and Schottland as Round Lake Forward in 2023, when all were elected. Rodriguez and Schottland are in the middle of their terms and not on the ballot. Amann stepped down and was replaced by Boyk.