UPDATE at 3:30pm: Judge Scott Belt scheduled a June 25th hearing at which he’ll determine how much the plaintiff’s side will pay in a court case over the November election results. The judge dismissed LaSalle County Republican Party Chairman Larry Smith’s case this week. Smith had claimed the County Clerk’s Office mishandled mail-in ballots, wrongly making Todd Martin the State’s Attorney’s race winner and Lance Yednock a reelected Illinois House member. Martin and Yednock are Democrats.
Belt wrote that accusing County Clerk Lori Bongartz of committing felonies by darkening ovals on ballots is vexatious, prejudicial, and harassing in the absence of facts to support the claim. It would be defamatory if not for Bongartz being a public official.
He also wrote that Illinois law is clear that when an election’s outcome is challenged in court, all of the candidates must be named as defendants, because the case’s outcome could affect them. Omitting them is fatal to the case, and Smith didn’t name State’s Attorney Martin as a defendant. He tried to with a court filing last week, but that’s too late in Belt’s view.
And the judge found that the claim didn’t spell out a positive and clear assertion that there’s a reasonable likelihood that dismissing mail-in ballots would change the election’s outcome. Smith’s claim alleged that mishandling of mail-in ballots was so bad, the only fair thing to do was to remove all of them from the final count. Election night results posted before the mail-in ballots were counted showed Republican candidates, former State’s Attorney Karen Donnelly and Illinois House 76th District challenger Travis Breeden, winning.
Belt ruled that it’s appropriate for the plaintiff’s side to pay for the defendant’s attorney and court fees. To get them, Bongartz’s lawyer must submit a petition that is, in effect, an itemized bill.
The earlier version of the story is below
No further hearings are scheduled in a court case over LaSalle County election results. Grundy County Judge Scott Belt confirmed in an online hearing this morning, he’s dismissing the case. The written order he mailed Monday hasn’t shown up in the court filing system yet, as of this morning.
In the case, LaSalle County Republican Party Chairman Larry Smith claimed Travis Breeden should have won the Illinois House 76th District race and Karen Donnelly should still be the State’s Attorney. The ruling that Smith’s side should pay the other side’s court fees means the judge agreed that the case shouldn’t have been filed. The lawyer for LaSalle County Clerk Lori Bongartz argued for dismissing it because of numerous errors he says were inexcusable.
On WCMY this week, Smith asserted again that there were problems with how ballots were handled. He said the Republican Party would better prepare to fight such problems in future elections.