In Welch v. Educational Officers Board for Provision High School District 209, 322 Ill. App. 3d 568, 750 N.E.2d 222, 255 Ill. Dec. 641 (2001), potential candidates for the district school board filed nominating petitions on the day of the filing deadline shortly after 5 p.m., the regular business hours published to the general public. Welch, 322 Ill. App. 3d at 571. The school board secretary refused to certify the nominating petitions or place the candidates on the ballot because he found the petitions untimely due to the fact that they bore a timestamp beyond the regular hours of the office in which the parties were required to file. One of the questions we addressed in Welch was what is the time frame within which nomination papers can be filed? In response to the school board secretary's argument in Welch that accepting petitions after 5 p.m. was untimely, the Court stated: "Under section 9-10 of the School Code, 'petitions for the nomination of members of a board of education' are to be filed 'within the time provided for by the general election law.' The time of day for filing is provided in section 1-4 of the Election Code, which as noted states that 'the office in which petitions must be filed shall remain open for the receipt of such petitions until 5:00 P.M. on the last day of the filing period.' On its face section 1-4 states that the office must remain open until 5 p.m., but there is no requirement that the office must close at that time. Thus on its face section 1-4 merely purports to provide a floor but not a ceiling to limit the time during which an office may remain open after 5 p.m." Welch, 322 Ill. App. 3d 568, 574-75, 750 N.E.2d 222, 255 Ill. Dec. 641. The Court further held in Welch that: "the District's administrative office remained open after 5 p.m. on January 23, 2001, as is evidenced by the time-stamps on the receipts for plaintiffs' nomination papers. As noted, the Election Code requires only that the appropriate office be open 'until 5:00 P.M. on the last day of the filing period.' Since there is no language in the Election Code which states that nomination papers must be filed by 5 p.m. on the last day for filing, we conclude that plaintiffs' nomination papers here were filed 'within the time provided for by the general election law.'" Welch, 322 Ill. App. 3d 568, 575, 750 N.E.2d 222, 255 Ill. Dec. 641