A legal objection requesting a judge set aside an election petition for a Pine-Richland School Board candidate alleges that several signatures appearing on her Democratic primary petition were falsified.
To register for the Democratic primary, candidates must acquire 10 signatures from Democrats in their election region. The objection, filed on March 17, questions the authenticity of five signatures on the petition of Kathleen Ravotti, who filed in both party primaries in Region 1 of the district.
It includes signed affidavits from four of Ravotti’s neighbors in Pine claiming they never signed the candidate’s petition and yet their names were included anyway. The objection was filed by Elizabeth DeLosa, an attorney also running in both primaries for Region 1.
She said the signature “discrepancies” were brought to the attention of Together for PR, a political organization that has opposed the current board majority, which alerted the neighbors.
One affidavit, from neighbors Owen and Angela Bates, said Ravotti approached them while they were doing yard work, asking the couple to sign her petition. When the couple declined, the affidavit said Ravotti drove away. But their signatures, which both wrote are false, are nonetheless included as the eighth and ninth ones on the petition.
Owen, who said he had a basic neighborly relationship with Ravotti but did not want to get involved, said he was “shocked” when he found out his name was included. The situation, he said, has made us “upset and frustrated.”
“We just wanted to stay out of it, but now we’re more involved than we ever thought we would be,” he said.
Another neighbor, Zachary Frombach, said in his affidavit that Ravotti had never even approached him or his wife, though both of their names appear on the petition. Instead, he said he received a call from a mutual acquaintance, Andy Van Blargan, asking him to sign. When he declined, he said Van Blargan pushed no further and the two exchanged pleasantries before hanging up.
“I did not agree to sign the petition, intend to sign the petition, nor did I suggest I was going to sign the petition,” Frombach wrote.
In an affidavit from Frombach’s wife, Julie, she also denied signing the petition, saying the name listed by her supposed signature is incorrect anyway.
Ravotti, the objection says, is a registered Republican, and her Republican primary petition is not in question. A staff attorney at Reed Smith, Ravotti previously interviewed to fill a vacant school board seat in 2021.
The objection asks the court to set aside and strike the petition, which would leave Ravotti off the Democratic ballot come February. The petition’s circulator, Kayla Van Blargan, signed a statement acknowledging the information included in the petition was true to the best of her knowledge. That statement is subject to penalties related to “unsworn falsification to authorities.”
Ravotti could not be immediately reached for comment. Van Blargan declined to comment.
As for what is next, DeLosa said a meeting could occur with her, Ravotti and an election official to sort out the facts, but that timeline remains unclear.
A hearing for county school board election objections will take place at 9 a.m. March 27 at the City-County Building, Downtown, where the objection likely will be discussed.