Appellate panel: State must use disputed ballot

A state appeals court on Thursday rejected efforts to replace a ballot asking voters whether they want a constitutional convention, even though critics say the current version is unfair and misleading.

The Illinois Appellate Court, which heard impassioned arguments in favor of replacing the ballot for the Nov. 4 election, issued a two-sentence order Thursday upholding a lower court decision that a new ballot would be impractical at this late date.

The appeals court did not give its reasons but said an opinion would come later.

The dispute is over a portion of the ballot in which voters are asked whether they want officials to call a statewide convention to draw up a new Illinois Constitution to replace the one that was last changed in 1970.

Cook County Circuit Judge Nathaniel Howse ruled earlier this month that the ballot contained language that is false and misleading concerning a constitution. He ordered election officials to prepare a corrective notice to be handed out to voters in hopes it will offset any bias in the ballot language.

He cited in specific a statement that says not voting is tantamount to a "no" vote. The ballot also tells voters that a previous such measure lost by 75 percent, something critics say suggests the idea of a constitutional convention is unpopular.

Chicago Bar Association attorney Steven F. Pflaum told Justices Denise O'Malley, Robert Cahill and Joseph Gordon on Wednesday that ballot is "a joke" and "flagrantly misleading."

But Daniel P. Madden, legal adviser to Cook County Clerk David Orr, told the justices that thousands of early voters have already cast ballots. He also said that a whole new ballot would confuse election judges already well into their training.

A message left on Pflaum's answering machine Thursday morning by The Associated Press was not immediately returned.