A Grundy County judge Wednesday didn’t dismiss the LaSalle County Republican Central Committee’s court case against LaSalle County Clerk Lori Bongartz. But he made it clear there needs to be a strong likelihood of the election outcome changing if the case is to proceed much farther. Judge Lance Peterson said the county shouldn’t be made to go through the work and expense of a recount if it won’t make a difference. The Republicans allege there are some 7,300 votes that weren’t counted when wins went to State’s Attorney Todd Martin and St. Rep. Lance Yednock. They are both Democrats.
During a 45-minute hearing, Peterson recessed court so the attorneys could figure out how many of the allegedly uncounted votes would have to be for the Republican candidates for them to win after all. They estimated 67% for Karen Donnelly for State’s Attorney and 79.5% for Travis Breeden for State Representative. At the end of the hearing, Peterson told Republican Party attorney William Hotopp and Bongartz’ attorney Matt Krueger to dig further into the vote counts themselves to make sure there is a case to go forward with.
When they return to court on January 8, Hotopp is to have filed a new version of the complaint. Peterson said Hotopp presented the two election result challenges as one matter although state law requires them to be presented as separate matters. The judge also said separating them makes them easier for courts to handle in case decisions go in different directions. Scott Belt, who is to be sworn in as a new judge in Grundy County on that day, will handle the case.
In an earlier version of the complaint, the Republican Party alleged that mishandled votes added to the count late on election night changed the outcome. The party wanted to block Bongartz from certifying the results. However, she already certified them before the party filed the court case.
A question that came up Wednesday is whether Republican Party Chairman Larry Smith is qualified to bring the complaint in the case of the Illinois House 76th District result. Krueger said the County Clerk’s Office told him Smith lives in the 90th District. Hotopp says his client lives in the 76th. Judge Peterson didn’t rule on it. If Smith lives outside the 76th District, Krueger could ask the judge to dismiss the part of the complaint about that race’s result.
Peterson also told the attorneys to keep their word choices professional. He told Hotopp it’s inappropriate to use the word fraud in the documents he files if he doesn’t present a basis for accusing anyone of intentional dishonesty. Someone can do something incorrectly without committing fraud. And he told Krueger he shouldn’t have refuted the allegations by saying in his filing “third grade math” shows they’re wrong.