CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION

Federal Judicial Center 11/1/2023 1

Accommodating Overseas Voters 

in a Special Election 

DuPage County Board of Election Commissioners 

v. Illinois State Board of Elections 

(Ruben Castillo, N.D. Ill. 1:08-cv-232) 

Election officials filed a federal complaint seeking relief from the 

time constraints imposed by a special election to fill a seat in the 

U.S. House of Representatives set to coincide with a presidential 

primary election, because the schedule did not give them enough 

time to provide overseas voters with their ballots on time. The district judge granted the officials departures from statutory deadlines 

to accommodate the special-election dates. The judge modified 

time deadlines for overseas voters and authorized the use of blank 

absentee ballots. 

Subject: Absentee and early voting. Topics: Absentee ballots; 

Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act 

(UOCAVA); intervention. 

Election officials for seven northern Illinois counties and the City of Aurora 

filed a federal complaint in the Northern District of Illinois on Thursday, 

January 10, 2008, seeking relief from time requirements for a special election 

to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of U.S. Representative Dennis 

Hastert.1

 They claimed that a March 8 election with a February 5 primary 

election—the day of Illinois’s Super Tuesday presidential primary election—

did not give the election officials enough time to comply with various state 

time requirements or the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee 

Voting Act of 1986 (UOCAVA).2 On the following day, the plaintiffs filed a 

motion for an emergency hearing.3

Illinois law required a special election within 115 days of a writ issued by 

the governor within five days of the congressional vacancy.4 The March 8 

date was ninety-six days after the writ was issued and thirty-two days after 

the primary election.5

1. Complaint, DuPage Cty. Bd. of Election Comm’rs v. Ill. State Bd. of Elections, No. 

1:08-cv-232 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 10, 2008), D.E. 1; see Steve Lord, Election Dates Cause Worries, 

Chi. Sun-Times, Jan. 14, 2008, at 18; Lisa Smith, Special Election Will Be Headache for Officials, Chi. Daily Herald, Dec. 1, 2007, at 4. 

2. Complaint, supra note 1; see Pub. L. No. 99-410, 100 Stat. 924, as amended, 52 U.S.C. 

§§ 20301–20311. See generally Robert Timothy Reagan, Overseas Voting: The Uniformed 

and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (Federal Judicial Center 2016). 

3. Emergency Motion, DuPage Cty. Bd. of Election Comm’rs, No. 1:08-cv-232 (N.D. Ill. 

Jan. 11, 2008), D.E. 13. 

4. 10 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/25-7; see Calendar Order at 2, DuPage Cty. Bd. of Election 

Comm’rs, No. 1:08-cv-232 (N.D. Ill Jan. 18, 2008), D.E. 32. 

5. See Calendar Order, supra note 4, at 5. 
Accommodating Overseas Voters in a Special Election 

2 Federal Judicial Center 11/1/2023

On Monday, January 14, the federal government sought permission to 

participate in the case as an amicus curiae to protect the federal rights of 

overseas voters.6

Judge Ruben Castillo heard the case on Wednesday.7 He granted the federal government’s motion to participate and continued the plaintiff’s motion 

until two days later.8 On January 18, Judge Castillo issued an order specifying 

a calendar of time requirements, including departures from normal statutory 

deadlines, to accommodate the scheduled election dates.9

With respect to overseas ballots, Judge Castillo ordered that they be 

counted for the primary election if postmarked by February 4 and received 

by February 8.10 Overseas ballots for the March 8 election would be accepted 

if postmarked by March 7 and received by March 29.11 An important difficulty in providing overseas voters with timely ballots was the short time between the two elections, so Judge Castillo authorized the use of blank absentee ballots.12

6. Amicus Curiae Motion, DuPage Cty. Bd. of Election Comm’rs, No. 1:08-cv-232 (N.D. 

Jan. 14, 2008), D.E. 10. 

7. Minutes, id. (Jan. 16, 2008), D.E. 27. 

Judge Castillo retired on September 27, 2019. Federal Judicial Center Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, www.fjc.gov/history/judges. 

8. Minutes, supra note 7. 

9. Calendar Order, supra note 4; see Reagan, supra note 2, at 4–5. 

10. Calendar Order, supra note 4, at 17. 

11. Id. at 18. 

12. Id. at 18–20.