Opinion ID: 2246860
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Ballots with the Wrong Precinct Designation

Text: The appellant next argues that the trial court should not have counted five ballots because they bore the wrong precinct number. Three of these ballots were absentee ballots, with the wrong precinct number manually written on the ballot, and two ballots were in-precinct ballots, which had the wrong precinct number printed thereon. The appellant also argues that four ballots without precinct numbers should not have been counted because those ballots bear the title Niles Township. The appellant notes that no part of Niles township is within the 55th Representative District. We address each of these claims separately. The appellant filed a motion in the trial court to have these ballots excluded from the recount, but the trial court denied the motion, relying upon the decision in Hester v. Kamykowski (1958), 13 Ill.2d 481, 150 N.E.2d 196. The appellant contends that the trial court's reliance on Hester was misplaced. She argues that Hester did not consider whether ballots cast in the wrong precinct should be counted. Appellant also argues that, under Hester ballots which do not have a precinct number are invalid when those ballots also have other irregularities. The appellee argues that the record contains no evidence of illegal voting or proof that these ballots were cast in the wrong precinct. She argues that these ballots involve a ministerial error on the part of an election judge. Section 7-43 of the Election Code, which defines the qualifications of voters at primary elections, specifies that every person who is a United States citizen of 18 or more years of age, and who has resided in the State for 6 months and in the precinct for 30 days before the primary, shall be entitled to vote at the primary. (Ill.Rev.Stat. 1989, ch. 46, par. 7-43.) Nothing in the Election Code specifically states that a ballot cast in the wrong precinct is invalid. The appellant argues, however, that in Boland v. City of LaSalle (1938), 370 Ill. 387, 19 N.E.2d 177, and Thornton v. Gardner (1964), 30 Ill.2d 234, 195 N.E.2d 723, our court held that ballots cast in the wrong election jurisdiction should not be counted in the election results. In Boland, a resident of the City of LaSalle's 7th Ward cast her ballot in the 6th Ward. The court refused to count her vote, concluding that the vote was clearly illegal because cast in the wrong ward, [and] it cannot now be counted either for or against the third proposition. ( Boland, 370 Ill. at 398, 19 N.E.2d 177.) In Thornton v. Gardner (1964), 30 Ill.2d 234, 235, 195 N.E.2d 723, the court stated that the votes of seven persons who voted at the wrong polling place were determined to be illegal votes. Because there was no evidence as to how these seven voted, the court held that it was appropriate to deduct the votes on a pro rata basis. See also Tuthill v. Rendelman (1944), 387 Ill. 321, 346, 56 N.E.2d 375 (where undisputed evidence established that the voter did not live in the precinct in which she sought to vote, the trial court did not err in refusing to count that vote). The appellant argues that Boland and Thornton are controlling here, and that ballots which bear the wrong precinct designation may not be counted. Although we agree that, under Boland and Thornton, ballots cast in the wrong precinct are invalid, the facts in this case are distinguishable. The evidence in Boland and Thornton established with certainty that one or more voters voted at the wrong polling place. Here, on the other hand, there is no evidence that any voter cast a ballot in the wrong precinct. The evidence established only that certain ballots bore the wrong precinct number. We also disagree with the appellee's contention that the court's decision in Hester v. Kamykowski (1958), 13 Ill.2d 481, 150 N.E.2d 196, is controlling. In Hester, the court held that the absence of a precinct designation, standing alone, is not sufficient to invalidate a ballot. The nine ballots disputed here are not simply missing a precinct number. Rather, five of those ballots have the wrong precinct number either written or printed thereon, and four ballots, in addition to not having a precinct number, bear a township designation outside the 55th Representative District. Thus, the two categories of ballots here fall somewhere in between the ballots held valid in Hester and the ballots invalidated in Boland and Thornton. Accordingly, we must consider the policy considerations underlying each of those decisions in determining whether the trial court properly counted the ballots questioned here. In Boland and Thornton, the evidence established that voters improperly went to the wrong polling place to cast their ballots. The error was therefore attributable to the fault of the voter, and the voters, basically, disfranchised themselves. In Hester, on the other hand, the court repeatedly stated that ignorance, inadvertence or mistake on the part of the election officials should not be permitted to disfranchise an election district or to defeat the will of the electorate. ( Hester, 13 Ill.2d at 487-88, 150 N.E.2d 196.) Accordingly, the court held that irregularities in the form of the ballot, which occur because of the honest mistake of election officials, will not, by themselves, invalidate the election. Other decisions have likewise expressed a reluctance to construe statutory requirements so as to deprive fully qualified voters of their right to have their votes counted, simply because of a mistake on the part of election officials. Craig v. Peterson (1968), 39 Ill.2d 191, 196, 233 N.E.2d 345; Boland v. City of LaSalle (1938), 370 Ill. 387, 391, 19 N.E.2d 177. At the same time, courts have not hesitated to invalidate the ballots of voters who were not qualified to vote in the election in question ( Tuthill v. Rendelman (1944), 387 Ill. 321, 346, 56 N.E.2d 375; Boland v. City of LaSalle (1938), 370 Ill. 387, 19 N.E.2d 177; Thornton v. Gardner (1964), 30 Ill.2d 234, 195 N.E.2d 723), or who knowingly violated election laws ( Boland v. City of LaSalle (1938), 370 Ill. 387, 19 N.E.2d 177 (invalidating ballot on which voter wrote obscenity)). Applying the foregoing observations to the ballots questioned here, we conclude that the trial court properly counted the five ballots with the wrong precinct number. There is no allegation or evidence that these ballots were fraudulently cast. The appellant does not claim that these ballots were cast by voters who resided outside the 55th Representative District or who were not qualified to vote in the election at issue. She argues that the ballots should not be counted because they were cast in one precinct but counted in the wrong precinct. We cannot agree with the appellant's claim that the five ballots which bear the wrong precinct number should not be counted. We may reasonably assume, absent evidence to the contrary, that the five ballots questioned here were properly cast in the precinct where the voter resided, because a voter may receive a ballot only after applying for a ballot and satisfying an election judge that he or she is qualified to vote and resides in the precinct in question. The statements by appellant's counsel at trial offered a plausible explanation as to why a ballot properly cast in one precinct would be found in the ballot box of another precinct. Appellant's counsel explained that in some instances, voters from several precincts cast ballots at one polling place. After the voter receives and marks a ballot which bears the number of the precinct in which the voter resides, the voter must hand that ballot to an election judge, who deposits it into the ballot box of the appropriate precinct. The evidence suggests that ballots which bore the number of one precinct within the 55th Representative District were found in the ballot box of another precinct within the 55th Representative District, because the election judges inadvertently deposited those ballots into the wrong ballot box. Although these ballots were counted in the wrong precinct, they were cast by voters who resided in the 55th Representative District and who were entitled to vote for one of the candidates involved in this contest. Any error was attributable to the election officials and not the voters. ( Cf. Boland v. City of LaSalle (1938), 370 Ill. 387, 19 N.E.2d 177.) We conclude that otherwise qualified voters should not be deprived of their right to have their votes counted simply because of error on the part of the election officials. We reach a different conclusion, however, with respect to those ballots which not only do not have a precinct number, but which also bear the township designation Niles Township. The appellant contends, and the appellee does not object, that no part of Niles township is within the 55th Representative District. Thus, the evidence suggests that the ballots which bear the title Niles Township were cast by voters who resided outside the 55th Representative District. These Niles township ballots are distinguishable from the ballots with the wrong precinct number, because the former ballots were cast by voters who did not reside within the 55th Representative District, while the latter ballots were cast by voters who resided within the district. The voters who cast the Niles township ballots had no right to cast a vote for one of the candidates in this election contest. Although this court will not deprive an otherwise qualified voter of the right to have his vote counted, simply because of a mistake on the part of the election officials ( Craig v. Peterson (1968), 39 Ill.2d 191, 196, 233 N.E.2d 345; Boland v. City of LaSalle (1938), 370 Ill. 387, 391, 19 N.E.2d 177), the voters here were not qualified to vote for the office in question. Consequently, their votes may not be counted. The record shows that an equal number of these Niles township ballots were cast for each candidate. Accordingly, deducting these votes from each candidate's vote tally has no effect on the election results.