Our panel of leading appellate attorneys reviews the Illinois Supreme Court opinion handed down on Thursday, March 11. In Jones v. Municipal Officers Electoral Board, the court examined the decision of the Municipal Officers Electoral Board for the City of Calumet City that disqualified the plaintiff as a candidate for mayor of Calumet City because he filed his nomination papers 13 days after a referendum passed that disqualified him.

Jones v. Municipal Officers Electoral Board

By Joanne R. Driscoll, Forde & O’Meara LLP

In this administrative review proceeding, the Illinois Supreme Court examined the decision of the Municipal Officers Electoral Board for the City of Calumet City (the Board) that disqualified the plaintiff as a candidate for mayor of Calumet City because he filed his nomination papers 13 days after a referendum passed that disqualified him. The referendum barred any person who simultaneously held an elected, paid state office from running for mayor. The question before the court was whether the legally effective date of the referendum was election day, as the Board determined, or the date the result was certified, as the plaintiff argued.

In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Garman (with Justice Neville taking no part), the court disagreed with the Board’s reasoning that the certification process was merely ministerial. According to the court, the Election Code (10 ILCS 5/1-1 et seq. (West 2018)) (the Code) was detailed not only as to the method of declaring results but the conduct of the election in general. Citing the Code’s requirement to canvass votes after voting is complete in order to account for and review the validity of ballots cast (id. §§ 22-2 to 22-18) and its requirement for an election authority to certify and declare the results (id. §§ 17-1 to 17-100), the court concluded that the legal effective date of the referendum was when the results were certified.

The objectors’ alternative argument that the plaintiff became disqualified after certification of the referendum was deemed forfeited because it was not raised before the Board.