PEORIA As one of few Hispanics in his suburban-Rockford neighborhood, Jim Montelongo just wanted to fit in when he was a child.
“I liked to watch football. I liked to play baseball. I wanted to do all the things young kids do, without being in a certain box,” the Peoria City Council member and mayoral candidate said. “I just wanted to be an all-American kid growing up.”
Of course, not every kid not even the all-American ones grows up to graduate from college, own his own business and be elected to public office three times.
Those experiences appear to have taught the 53-year-old Montelongo a valuable lesson, perhaps more than what he learned when he studied manufacturing at Bradley University.
Peoria mayoral candidates Andres Diaz, Sid Ruckriegel, Rita Ali, Jim Montelongo and Chama St. Louis participate in a WCBU candidate forum moderated by news director Tim Shelley and timed by Roberta Parks from the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria. WCBU / Zoom
The five candidates on the primary ballot to succeed outgoing Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis say they want to lead the city through its current challenges and into the future.
Rita Ali, Andy Diaz, Jim Montelongo, Sid Ruckriegel and Chama St. Louis are vying for the opportunity to become Peoria s first new mayor since 2005. All five participated in a WCBU candidates forum on Thursday, co-hosted by the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria and Peoria Public Library.
The write-in option was left off some copies of the February Peoria mayoral primary ballot.
Peoria County Election Commission Executive Director Tom Bride said the write-in option wasn t available for 185 early voters and 339 voters by mail due to an error.
A new database was coded Tuesday to correct the error. On election night, Bride said the original and new vote databases will be merged to reflect the official totals.
Mail-in ballots hadn t been processed yet. All affected mail-in voters will receive a corrected ballot and a letter explaining the issue. But for the 185 early votes already processed, ballots without the write-in option will be counted.
But old-fashioned technology might have helped rectify that situation, and perhaps smooth apparent hard feelings.
Of the five candidates on the ballot for mayor in the Feb. 23 primary election, Montelongo was the only no-show Saturday night during the online forum the NAACP Peoria Branch sponsored.
Initially, Montelongo indicated he wasn t invited. That was what the 4th District City Councilman posted among comments on the Facebook Live page where the forum was streamed.
Upon further review Sunday, Montelongo said he received the NAACP s emailed invitation to participate. But the invite sent to his council email address landed in a virtual folder other than his inbox, evidently.
Tim Shelley / Peoria Public Radio
Early voting for next month’s consolidated primary elections began Thursday, and Peoria County Election Commission Executive Director Tom Bride believes turnout may be higher than usual this year.
With five candidates on the ballot to replace Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis and four City Council district races with more than two candidates, Bride thinks the crowded fields may generate greater voter interest.
“It’s been a while since we ve had a really heavily contested mayoral race and this many heavily contested city council races. We typically haven t had a big turnout in these primaries, but I think we ll be higher because of that,” said Bride, noting the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could counteract any increased interest and potentially suppress voting.