Current Village President Sandy Frum ran for re-election uncontested in the April 9 village elections. Frum, who has been village president for four years, ran in a slate of candidates backed by the Northbrook Caucus, a local political party.

In February former Village President Eugene Marks said he filed to be a write-in Democratic candidate to force a primary election instead of collecting signatures because of a “political decision,” according to Marks.

Marks said he filed paperwork for his candidacy with the Cook County Clerk’s Office, but the County refused his submission.

“Unfortunately in this election the village [and] the people of the village of Northbrook lost,” said Marks. “They don’t have a choice who they can vote for now.”

According to attorney Anish Parikh, Marks’ former lawyer, the judge denied Marks’ case because he had filed the paperwork too late, not because of any law inconsistency with county law.

“No matter how you look at it, the clerk of the circuit court violated [my] civil rights to run,” Marks said.

Marks declined further comment because of pending legal action. The Clerk of the Circuit Court did not return calls requesting comment.

Parikh added that he thinks cases involving write-in candidacy will be common in the future unless there is a clear interpretation of the county level law.

There was no interpretation of it for the village primary elections by the judge in Marks’ case, only a denial on a “technicality.”

“Our position remains that I think the candidates did have the right to force a primary election,” said Parikh. “I think until and unless we can get some sort of settlement of the law as to what the proper interpretation of the law is, I think we’re going to continue to see these cases pop up in the future.”