Hacker v. Halley

2021 IL App (2d) 210050

196 N.E.3d 453

458 Ill.Dec. 149

Shawn Patrick HACKER, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.Edward HALLEY; The Winfield Township Officers Electoral Board, and Its Members Nicole Prater, Michael Guglielmi, and Ken Menzel; and Jean Kaczmarek, in Her Official Capacity as Du Page County Clerk, Defendants

(Edward Halley, Defendant-Appellant).

Judith M. Lukas, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.Edward Halley; the Winfield Township Officers Electoral Board, and Its Members Nicole Prater, Michael Guglielmi, and Ken Menzel; and Jean Kaczmarek, in Her Official Capacity as Du Page County Clerk, Defendants

(Edward Halley, Defendant-Appellant).

Maury Goodman, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.Edward Halley; The Winfield Township Officers Electoral Board, and Its Members, Barbara Alekna, Michael Guglielmi, and Donald Voelz; and Jean Kaczmarek, in Her Official Capacity as Du Page County Clerk, Defendants

(Edward Halley, Defendant-Appellant).

Nos. 2-21-0050

2-21-0051

2-21-0052 cons.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District.

Opinion Filed November 15, 2021

Brian J. Armstrong, of Luetkehans, Brady, Garner & Armstrong, LLC, of Itasca, for appellant.

Ed Mullen, of Mullen Law Firm at the Westside Justice Center, of Chicago, for appellees.

JUSTICE JORGENSEN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 On January 8, 2021, the Winfield Township Officers Electoral Board (the board) issued orders upholding defendant Edward Halley's objection to the candidacies of plaintiffs, Maury Goodman, Judith M. Lukas, and Shawn Patrick Hacker (collectively, the candidates), for the township offices of supervisor (Goodman) and trustee (Lukas and Hacker) and striking the candidates’ names from the ballots for the April 6, 2021, consolidated election. On January 11, 2021, the candidates separately petitioned for judicial review, naming Halley, the board, its members, and the Du Page County Clerk as defendants.¹ On January 25, 2021, the circuit court reversed the board's orders and ordered the candidates’ names to appear on the ballot. Halley appeals. We affirm.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 Winfield Township is a township organized under the Township Code ( 60 ILCS 1/1-1 et seq. (West 2020)). By law, the voters within the township elect at the consolidated election (see id. § 5-65; 10 ILCS 5/2A-33 (West 2020) ), inter alia , a township supervisor and four trustees who serve four-year terms. 60 ILCS 1/50-5(b), 50-40 (West 2020). To qualify for elected township office, a person must be a legal voter, reside in the township for at least one year before his or her election, and cannot have any convictions for infamous crimes, bribery, perjury, or another felony at the time he or she takes the oath of office. Id. § 55-5, 55-6. Generally, the Election Code ( 10 ILCS 5/1-1 et seq. (West 2020)) applies to the conduct of all township elections. 60 ILCS 1/50-45 (West 2020) ; see also id. § 45-20(c).

¶ 4 Article 45 of the Township Code governs nominations for elected township office. Section 45-5 provides that, "[i]n all townships ***, nominations by established political parties for candidates for township officers shall *** be held as provided in this Article. " (Emphasis added.) Id. § 45-5. Established political parties in townships hold caucuses to nominate candidates for township office unless the party, in a township exceeding a certain population threshold, has chosen to hold primary elections under article 7 of the Election Code. Id. §§ 45-10, 45-55; see 10 ILCS 5/art. 7 (West 2020). Additionally, "[c]ertain candidates for township offices may be nominated as provided in Article 10 of the Election Code." 60 ILCS 1/45-60 (West 2020). The Democratic Party in Winfield Township, which the parties do not dispute is an established political party as that term is defined in the Election Code and used in the Township Code, nominates its candidates for township office at a caucus.

¶ 5 Article 45 of the Township Code sets forth certain notice and procedural requirements relating to the conduct of township caucuses and provides that an established political party may adopt additional procedural rules by a majority vote of qualified participants. See id. §§ 45-10, 45-50. It also prescribes how nominated candidates’ names are to be placed on the ballot: not more than 113 nor less than 106 days before the township election, the chairperson of the township central committee must file with the township clerk the nominated candidates’ nomination papers. Id. § 45-20(b). The required nomination papers include (1) a "certification by the chair[person]," which provides the names of all candidates for office in the township nominated at the caucus; and (2) a "statement of candidacy," prepared by the candidate, which complies with the form prescribed in section 10-5 of the Election Code. Id. ; see also 10 ILCS 5/10-5 (West 2020). Each nominated candidate must also file with the township clerk a receipt from the county clerk showing he or she filed a statement of economic interests as required by the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act (Ethics Act) ( 5 ILCS 420/1-101 et seq. (West 2020)). 60 ILCS 1/45-30 (West 2020). Finally, the township clerk must certify the candidates nominated at the caucus to the proper election authorities not less than 68 days before the township election. Id. § 45-20(c).

¶ 6 On December 1, 2020, the Winfield Township Democratic Party held a caucus and selected Goodman as its nominee for the office of Winfield Township supervisor and Lukas and Hacker as its nominees for the office of Winfield Township trustee in the April 2021 consolidated election. On December 14, 2020, the chairperson of the Democratic Party's township central committee, Lynn Maher, filed with the township clerk the candidates’ nomination papers, which included a "certificate of nomination by caucus" (filed in duplicate for each candidate), receipts showing the candidates had filed statements of economic interests, and the candidates’ statements of candidacy.

¶ 7 The certificate of nomination by caucus was completed on a preprinted form made available by the Illinois State Board of Elections. See Ill. State Bd. of Elections, Certificate of Nomination By Caucus, https://www.elections.il.gov/agencyforms/4% 20CAUCUS% 20MATERIALS/Certificate% 20of% 20Nomination% 20by% 20Caucus% 20H-2.pdf (last visited Nov. 3, 2021) [https://perma.cc/TF3K-GD6A]. In the top left corner of the form, there is reference to sections 7-10.2, 10-1, 10-5, and 10-5.1 of the Election Code ( 10 ILCS 5/7-10.2, 10-1, 10-5, 10-5.1 (West 2020)) but not section 45-20 of the Township Code ( 60 ILCS 1/45-20 (West 2020) ). The certificate of nomination, as completed on the form, states, "We, the undersigned, do hereby certify that on [December 1, 2020,] at a caucus of the Democratic PARTY in the Township of Winfield in Du Page County, Illinois, the following nominations were made for the respective offices herein designated, to be voted for at the Consolidated Election to be held on [April 6, 2021]." The certificate lists the candidates’ names, their addresses, and the offices for which they were nominated. It also states, "We also certify that at the last candidate election in this political subdivision aforesaid, the Democratic PARTY polled more than 5% of the entire vote cast." The certificate was signed by Maher and Sheila Rutledge, who had acted as secretary of the caucus.

¶ 8 On the bottom of the form, under Maher's and Rutledge's signatures, there is fillable, preprinted language in which a person "authorized to administer oaths in Illinois" can sign his or her name, thereby attesting "[t]he persons whose names are subscribed to the *** certificate personally appeared before me on [a date certain] and upon their oaths stated that the same is true and correct to the best of their knowledge." This portion of the certificate of nomination was not completed.

¶ 9 The candidates’ statements of candidacy were also completed on a preprinted form. See Ill. State Bd. of Elections, Statement of Candidacy, https://www.elections.il.gov/agencyforms/3% 20Statement% 20of% 20Candidacy% 20Forms/Statement% 20of% 20Candidacy% 20(Nomination% 20by% 20Caucus)% 20P-1K.pdf (last visited Nov. 3, 2021) [https://perma.cc/ ZLK9-B79A]; see also 10 ILCS 5/10-5 (West 2020) (setting forth the information a nominated candidate must provide in the statement of candidacy, requiring the statement to be subscribed and sworn to in front of a person authorized "to take acknowledgements of deeds," and prescribing form language that may be used by a candidate). In their statements, each candidate listed his or her name, party, district, address, and the office he or she was seeking. Each candidate, after being sworn, also requested his or her name be placed on the ballot and stated he or she resided at the address listed; was a qualified voter in the township and a qualified primary voter of the Democratic Party; was seeking the office listed on the form; was "duly nominated at said party's caucus"; was legally qualified to hold the office sought; and had filed a statement of economic interests as required by the Ethics Act. Each candidate signed his or her statement of candidacy before a notary public.

¶ 10 On December 28, 2020, Halley objected to the candidacies of the candidates and asked that their names be stricken from the ballot. See 10 ILCS 5/10-8 (West 2020). Halley raised the same argument as to each candidate, asserting the candidates’ nomination papers were insufficient in law and fact because Maher's and Rutledge's signatures on the certificate of nomination were not sworn. He contended "[t]his omission fail[ed] to comply with the requirements applicable to Certificates of Nomination as set forth in the Election Code and the required procedures to certify the nomination of candidates by caucus" and rendered the certificate invalid. Halley generally asserted the omission "create[d] confusion among the voters as to whether [the candidates were] in fact nominated at the caucus and...