GOP candidate wins appeal and slot on 11th Congressional District ballots; DuPage halts early voting as result

An Illinois appeals court on Friday reversed lower decisions and ordered Republican congressional candidate Tedora M. Brown’s name to be added to 11th District ballots.

The 1st District appellate court in Chicago ordered Brown “be placed on the ballot immediately.” It also ordered the Illinois State Board of Elections to “take all steps necessary” to enforce the order.

Brown, of Palos Park, is among four candidates running for the GOP nomination in the 11th District. The others are Elburn Mayor Jeff Walter, Naperville resident Michael Pierce and Aurora resident Charlie Kim.

Brown’s attorney, Max Solomon, celebrated the order Friday.

“This has been a long-fought battle,” he said. “I’m glad that we prevailed at the courts.”

Brown thanked God, Solomon, the appellate justices, her campaign team and her supporters in a social media post after the ruling.

The 11th Congressional District encompasses portions of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, DeKalb and Boone counties. It’s up to each county to ensure Brown is included on its ballots, an elections board spokesperson said.

Friday’s decision prompted DuPage County officials to halt early voting indefinitely as they take steps to add Brown’s name to ballots.

While DuPage’s vote-by-mail ballots haven’t yet gone out because of Brown’s appeal, 742 people had voted early in person as of Thursday afternoon, county records show. People who already voted in the 11th District contest don’t get to vote again, Chief Deputy County Clerk Adam Johnson said.

Early voting in Cook County doesn’t begin until Wednesday. Elections officials likely will have to make some equipment adjustments, said Sally Daly, a spokesperson for the Cook County clerk’s office.

Brown’s name was already on ballots in Kane, Lake and Will counties. If the appellate court had ruled against Brown, votes for her wouldn’t have been counted, officials said.

Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega said he’s concerned judicial review of cases like Brown’s is bleeding over into early voting periods. That leads to added pressure on election officials.

“The ballot is not a simple Word (document) that we edit,” Vega said. “There's a larger sequence of preparation that takes place to ensure the ballots are ready for voters.”

Brown’s ballot fight began in December when Elburn resident Blanca Souders formally objected to her candidate petitions, claiming the paperwork didn’t have enough valid signatures. In January, the elections board ruled Brown shouldn’t be on the ballot because her petition pages had 798 valid signatures, one short of the required 799.

Brown took the matter to court. In late January, a Cook County judge upheld the board’s ruling. Brown appealed, leading to Friday’s decision.

The lawyer who represented Souders during the proceedings, Eric Hendricks, is with the Netzky Olswang and Hanlon firm of Chicago. Walter’s campaign committee paid that firm $7,500 for unspecified legal services in November and again in December, federal campaign finance records show.

During a joint candidate interview with the Daily Herald this week, Walter wouldn’t confirm or deny that he was responsible for the objection to Brown’s petitions or the unsuccessful objection to Pierce’s petitions, which was filed by a different person who was also represented by Hendricks at an elections board hearing.

“People can keep speculating,” Walter said. “They can speculate all they want.”

Walter declined to comment on the appeals court’s decision.

The winner of the March 17 Republican primary will face Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Naperville in November’s general election. Foster is unopposed in the Democratic primary.

· Daily Herald staff writers Susan Sarkauskas and Mick Zawislak contributed to this report.