A debate on voter eligibility for today’s Democratic primaries has led to conflicting legal opinions between the officials, attorneys and candidates.

The controversy lies in whether a citizen who signed a petition for a Republican candidate on the ballot for the city’s election can vote in the election.

There are three Democrats running in the primary – incumbent Mayor Tod Satterthwaite, Laurel Prussing and Shirley Hursey. No Republicans have submitted petitions to be on the general election ballot, so the winner of the primary is likely to be elected mayor of Urbana.

Rhonda Wrona, deputy election chief in the Champaign County Clerk office, said County Clerk Mark Shelden has written a memo regarding rules for election judges in Urbana. According to the memo, state law prohibits voters who signed petitions for Republican candidates from voting in the Democratic primary.

The memo stated that if a voter’s right to vote in the primary is challenged, election judges are supposed to vote on the challenge. If the majority of judges decide a person is ineligible to vote, the voter must be offered a provisional ballot and Shelden would then determine the voter’s eligibility.

Prussing said there will be volunteers from her campaign at polling precincts to challenge the votes of voters who signed Republican petitions.

Ruth Wyman, an Urbana alderwoman and attorney who supports Prussing, said that allowing Republicans to vote in the Democratic primary interferes with Democrats’ ability to choose their candidate. She said she had discussed Urbana’s scenario with the State Board of Elections, and said they had indicated that those who signed the petition are not legally allowed to vote in the primary.

Bill McGrath, an attorney who has worked with the Satterthwaite campaign, wrote a legal opinion on Sunday stating that voters who signed Republican petitions are legally allowed to vote because there is no Republican primary for them to vote in because of a lack of candidates. McGrath is also a former Champaign County Democratic Party chairman.

Since they do not have a candidate, some Republican political figures have encouraged Republicans to vote for Satterthwaite, including former Urbana Mayor Jeff Markland, whom Satterthwaite defeated in 1993.

Joe Whelan, the lone Republican on the Urbana City Council, has also endorsed Satterthwaite. Whelan signed the petition for candidate Heather Stevenson, who is running unopposed as Whelan’s replacement.

After hearing of McGrath’s interpretation of the voting law, Whelan said he would like to vote in the Democratic primary.

“The spirit of the law is that you can change from primary to primary (which party to vote in),” he said.

Prussing said Satterthwaite was seeking Republican votes in response to his inability to garner support among current elected Democratic officials.