‘It creates confusion’: Dabrowski takes aim at ‘Tad’ of a mistake on ballot

Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski is suing Champaign County over an error on its March 17 primary ballots that has him listed as “Tad.”

“It’s been such a big deal to have election integrity, we know the battles we’re having across the country trying to get this right,” Dabrowski said Tuesday.

When easily preventable mistakes happen, “it creates ballot confusion which is not good for the voters, and certainly not good for the candidates,” he added.

The lawsuit against County Clerk Aaron Ammons contends that “name identification is a fundamental requirement to electoral success. Ted’s political branding, developed at great expense, and campaign pivots on his first name, ‘Ted,’ including at its most basic level, the campaign name: ‘TED for Illinois.’

The error “diminishes respect for his candidacy and presents a risk for voter confusion. One vote lost is material to Ted’s ascertainable right in need of protection,” the complaint states.

So far, Ammons is not reprinting ballots, Dabrowski said. The lawsuit asks a judge to order new ballots and require early voters be handed a notice explaining the mistake.

Ammon’s office did not respond to a request for comment. However, court documents show that Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz had reached out to Dabrowski noting the clerk created a specimen ballot with the correct spelling that will be posted at early voting sites and other locations as they open.

The clerk also offered to provide voters requesting Republican ballots a notice pointing out the misspelling and to include it with mail-in ballots.

Dabrowski, a Wilmette resident and former head of Wirepoonts, is running in the GOP primary against 2022 nominee Darren Bailey of Xenia, video gambling magnate Rick Heidner of Barrington Hills, and DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick.

Hit or miss ballots

Meanwhile, Republican Joseph Severino continues a court battle to stay on the ballot in the governor’s race, after the Illinois State Board of Elections found he was about 250 signatures short on his nominating petitions.

The Lake Forest resident is appealing that decision to the First District Illinois Appellate Court, and it could be resolved in the coming days. Severino indicated on social media he is willing to take the issue to the Illinois Supreme Court if his appeal fails.

Amid the legal battle, some counties, including Lake, have listed Severino as a GOP gubernatorial candidate on ballots, while others did not include him.

“This is a larger issue in the fact that a lot of objections are bleeding over into the early voting period,” Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega said. He noted that the General Assembly a few years ago moved up petition circulation and petition filing dates to add a cushion for objections to be settled.

But “in my opinion, it’s had the opposite effect,” which adds “a lot of pressure and strain to elections offices,” Vega said.

GOP rebuts GOP

After the Republican National Committee posted a fake Valentine to Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker on X Feb. 14, jeering at his weight, Bailey remonstrated.

“As someone who has personally struggled with my weight, I can tell you this kind of rhetoric isn’t helpful,” the former state senator posted on X. “It doesn’t solve problems, it just creates more division. We can and should have real debates about policy, priorities, and the future of our state. But attacking someone over their weight is unnecessary, unproductive, and has no place in our politics.”

Political Roundabout is an occasional column on campaign, legislative and political news with a suburban focus.