Opinion ID: 2246860
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Ballot Applications Lacking the Voter's Signature

Text: In her cross-appeal, the appellee argues that 41 applications for ballots were not signed by voters who none-theless received ballots and voted. The trial court allowed these votes to be counted, finding that the provision in the Election Code requiring voters to sign an application for ballot was directory and that, absent proof of fraud or other illegality, ballots cast in violation of that provision should not be invalidated. The appellee argues that the trial court improperly construed the statutory provision requiring voters to sign an application for ballot as directory. She argues that signature verification is mandatory because it relates directly to the integrity of the election process. She argues that the trial court should have proportionally reduced the vote totals received for each candidate by the number of votes cast by voters who failed to sign their application forms. The appellant responds that the statutory requirement for signing ballot applications is directory. She argues that violation of a directory provision of the Election Code will invalidate the affected ballot only if fraud or other illegality is demonstrated. The appellant claims that the trial court properly counted the ballots with unsigned applications, because the appellee did not allege or offer evidence of fraud. Section 7-44 of the Election Code specifies that any person desiring to vote at a primary shall state his name, residence and party affiliation to the primary judges, one of whom shall then announce the same. The voter shall then sign the Certificate of Registered Voter prescribed in article 5. If the voter is not challenged, the primary judge must give him one ballot of the political party with which the voter declares himself affiliated. If the voter is challenged and is not personally known to the election judges to be qualified to vote, he may not receive a primary ballot until he completes an affidavit stating that he is qualified to vote. Section 5-29 of the Election Code (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 46, par. 5-29), which describes the Certificate of Registered Voter referred to in section 7-44, specifies that, [u]pon application to vote,    each registered elector shall sign his name or make his mark    on a certificate, certifying that the voter is registered in the precinct and is qualified to vote. The judges of election must then compare the signature upon the certificate with the signature on the registration record card as a means of identifying the voter. The statute further provides that, if the elector is unable to sign his name, a judge of election shall check the data on the registration card to determine whether the elector is entitled to vote. Ill.Rev.Stat. 1989, ch. 46, par. 5-29. In determining whether a statute is mandatory or directory, our courts have generally regarded the language of the statute as the best indicator of legislative intent. Thus, where a statute imposes duties upon election officials and by express language provides that the omission to perform the same shall render the election void, courts are bound to construe those provisions as mandatory. But if, as in most cases, the statute simply provides that certain acts or things shall be done within a particular time or in a particular manner, and does not declare that their performance is essential to the validity of the election, then they will be regarded as directory. ( Carr v. Board of Education (1958), 14 Ill.2d 40, 150 N.E.2d 583; Gulino v. Cerny (1958), 13 Ill.2d 244, 148 N.E.2d 724; Hester v. Kamykowski (1958), 13 Ill.2d 481, 487, 150 N.E.2d 196; People ex rel. Cant v. Crossley (1913), 261 Ill. 78, 102, 103 N.E. 537, quoting McCrary on Elections § 225.) Technical compliance with each and every provision of the Election Code is not required to sustain a ballot. Section 5-29 does not expressly declare that the observance of its provisions shall be mandatory or that failure to sign an application for a ballot will invalidate that ballot. It merely directs that the voter shall sign the affidavit. A similar statutory provision was given a directory construction in Carr v. Board of Education (1958), 14 Ill.2d 40, 150 N.E.2d 583. The petitioner in Carr sought a declaratory judgment that three elections to increase school tax rates were void because voters in those elections failed to execute affidavits as required by section 1-4 of the School Code (Ill.Rev.Stat.1957, ch. 122, par. 1-4). Section 1-4 of the School Code, like section 5-29 of the Election Code, required persons desiring to vote to sign an affidavit stating their name and address, that they resided within the particular district and that they were qualified voters. The court concluded that the statute was designed to aid election officials in determining the qualifications of voters. Because the statute did not specifically invalidate the votes of persons who failed to execute an affidavit, the court concluded that its requirements should be considered directory. Here, as in Carr v. Board of Education (1958), 14 Ill.2d 40, 150 N.E.2d 583, there is no allegation that any unqualified voters voted in the election or that failure to comply with section 5-29 hindered the rights of any person to challenge the qualifications of any voter. Ballots duly received by the judges of an election and deposited in the ballot box are presumed to be legal until the contrary is shown. Here, the disputed ballots were so received and deposited and there was no evidence to rebut the presumption that these ballots were cast by qualified voters. In such circumstances, we conclude, as the court did in Carr, that voters should not be disfranchised because of any failure to strictly comply with the statute requiring signed certificates. The general purpose of all election laws is to obtain fair and honest elections, and this end is paramount in importance to the formal steps prescribed as a means to its achievement. Carr v. Board of Education (1958), 14 Ill.2d 40, 44, 150 N.E.2d 583. The signature requirement set out in section 5-29 is simply one method by which election judges can verify the identity of a voter who presents himself at the polling place. In this respect, section 5-29 is distinguishable from the statutory provision which requires absentee voters to sign an application for an absentee ballot. Because an absentee voter never appears at the polling place in person, the signature requirement is the only means by which election judges can verify the identity of the absentee voter. See Talbott v. Thompson (1932), 350 Ill. 86, 182 N.E. 784. Furthermore, even if we agreed with the appellee that section 5-29 should be given a mandatory construction, we would not find that the section was violated here. Section 5-29 specifically provides that, if a voter is unable to sign his name, a judge of election shall check the data on the registration card to determine whether the elector is entitled to vote. (Ill.Rev.Stat. 1989, ch. 46, par. 5-29.) Judges of election are presumed to perform the duties required of them by the statute. ( Tuthill v. Rendelman (1944), 387 Ill. 321, 332, 56 N.E.2d 375.) Thus, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, we must presume that the election judges gave ballots to electors who did not sign a ballot application only after the election judges checked the data on the registration card and satisfied themselves that the electors were entitled to vote. Accordingly, the trial court did not err in refusing to reduce the totals received by each candidate in each precinct proportionally to the number of unsigned applications found in that precinct.