ILGOP Supporting Two Lawsuits Over Transparency and Mishandled Ballots
ILGOP Supporting Two Lawsuits Over Transparency and Mishandled Ballots (Kane & Champaign County, IL) — Throughout the 2022 election cycle, the Illinois Republican Party has been closely monitoring the voting process to ensure that the election is conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner, and in accordance with the law. In doing so, it has relied on reports from Republicans from polling places and Clerks’ offices throughout the State.
In a bid to require the Kane County Clerk to follow the Election Code and for the sake of greater transparency, the ILGOP has joined candidates Cody Holt and Gary Daugherty in filing suit against the Kane County Clerk following the Clerk’s Office’s refusal to require that election judges and election workers initial Vote By Mail ballots as they process them. From the suit:
“On or about October 25, 2022, counsel for the ILGOP sent a letter to the Kane
County Clerk requesting that the Clerk conform VBM ballot processing to the requirements of the Illinois Election Code by having his election judges initial VBM ballots that are processed by the Clerk…Despite this demand, the Kane County Clerk has, contrary to the Election Code, persisted in refusing to abide by the requirement of election judges endorsing VBM ballots with their initials when processing VBM ballots received by Kane County voters.”
“It is vitally important that there be a transparent and accountable process. The failure by the election officials in this case to not initial these ballots completely frustrates that process,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy. “The Illinois Republican Party and the campaigns joining the suit, are simply asking the County to follow the law. The Clerk’s stubborn attitude erodes confidence in the electoral process.”
In a second suit, while not a party to the suit, the Illinois Republican Party is monitoring and supportive of the recent action filed by Jim McGuire against the Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons. It has come to light that an employee of the Champaign County Clerk’s office was found to have a stack of loose ballots on the front seat of her car. McGuire’s action seeks to determine what these ballots were doing in this employee’s car, and to bar that employee from participating in election activities, at least until the facts around the mishandled ballots could be vetted by a Court.
“The Illinois Republican Party supports any effort to get a complete, credible, and expedited explanation into how these ballots ended up on the front seat of the Deputy County Clerk’s car. Whether this was intentional conduct or mere carelessness, it is absolutely unacceptable. We call on the Champaign County Clerk to immediately take responsibility for this breach and corrective action in his office,” said Tracy.
ILGOP Supporting Two Lawsuits Over Transparency and Mishandled Ballots
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