University Park mayoral candidate and Trustee Sonia Jenkins-Bell was arrested and released Election Day after a complaint of electioneering was made to officials, according to a Will County sheriff’s office case report.

Jerome Brown, Jenkins-Bell’s campaign strategist, said he, Jenkins-Bell and others on her campaign decided to spend Election Day at the polls to meet voters and pass out literature. He was there when she was arrested.

“It’s a horrible situation. It was an embarrassing situation,” Brown said. “It was a horrible day.”

Jenkins-Bell finished third in the three-way race for mayor, according to unofficial results from Cook and Will counties, with 334 votes, compared with 404 votes for Mayor Joseph Roudez and 394 votes for Trustee Theo Brooks. The official canvass of votes is April 25.

According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, electioneering or any type of campaigning should be 100 feet from the door to the room serving as the polling place. Brown said he was there when Jenkins-Bell was arrested and stated she was not within 100 feet.

“She was deep into the parking lot,” Brown said.

The report, portions of which were redacted, states Will County Assistant States Attorney J. Daniel McGrath and Will County sheriff’s Officer Anna Glowinke received a call for electioneering at the University Park Library, 1100 Blackhawk Drive, which is Monee precinct 7, at 5:52 p.m. April 4.

After speaking with an election judge, Glowinke stated she placed a female mayoral candidate in handcuffs, searched her, placed her into a police car and took her to the Will County Sheriff Eastern Substation in Crete, according to the report.

Glowinke wrote she returned to the polling location at 6:08 p.m. and talked to two election judges and a poll watcher to see if they would sign a statement about what they saw, according to the report, which redacts a large portion of what the election judges and poll watcher said.

About 30 minutes later, Glowinke returned to the sheriff’s substation in Crete and told Jenkins-Bell the election judges “could not identify her as the person that was electioneering” and said she was being released.

The report details multiple calls McGrath and Glowinke responded to for electioneering.

At 7:04 a.m., according to a report, McGrath received a call for electioneering at First Baptist Church at University Park, which is the polling place for Monee precinct 6. McGrath said he told a man it was a campaign free zone and the man left the church, according to the report.

About 15 minutes later, McGrath said he received another call to the First Baptist Church. When he responded, McGrath said he saw the same man from before with another man, and he told them to leave.

At 7:38 a.m., McGrath said he received a call for electioneering at the University Park Library, according to the report. On this call, an election judge pointed to a pink chalk line next to the fourth parking spot, which was used as a secondary mark in case the chalk line faded or washed away in the rain, according to the report.

When another call for electioneering was reported at the library at 1:33 p.m., Glowinke showed a person where the 100-foot mark was “and the chalk line had been washed away by the rain.” Glowinke told the person the fourth parking spot was the marker and asked an election judge to put another chalk line on the ground, according to the report.

Brown said he was at the First Baptist Church with other members of the campaign when the assistant state’s attorney and a sheriff’s officer approached them about electioneering.

Brown said he has worked in elections for about 30 years and he was shocked an assistant state’s attorney and a sheriff’s officer approached them and not an election judge from the polling location.

“No judges came out. No judges told us to move,” Brown said. “They followed us around.”

Brooks said he was across the street from the library and saw Jenkins-Bell talking with someone, and it appeared they were having a disagreement.

Then Brooks said he saw Jenkins-Bell be put in handcuffs and into a police car.