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Jasper County Clerk Linda Huth appears to have violated the Notary Public Act by notarizing a petition from the 2015 election cycle on which she was also a signatory, according to the Edgar County Watchdogs (ECW).
Huth notarized the petition to have Jasper County School Board Unit 1 candidate Jon Fulton appear on the ballot, but her name also appears as the 50th signatures on the petition. Fifty signatures are required to have one's name placed on the ballot for the school board election.
On its Illinois Leaks website, the ECW cites the Notary Public Act, which says in part that a "notary public shall not acknowledge any instrument in which the notary's name appears as a party to the transaction."
Jasper County School Board Unit 1 President Jon Fulton
| http://www.cusd1.jasper.k12.il.us/board-of-education/board-members
Huth’s actions would constitute a wrongful exercise of power or performance of a duty, and therefore qualify as official misconduct, the ECW contend.
Under the Notary Public Act, official misconduct is a Class A or B misdemeanor, depending on whether the misconduct was done in a reckless or negligent manner or a knowing and willful one, the ECW said. Notaries public found guilty of official misconduct also lose their commissions to carry out duties on behalf of the Illinois secretary of state.
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