Judge dismisses challenge to Buffalo Grove trustee election

The April 2019 Buffalo Grove trustee election finally has closure after a Cook County judge Friday dismissed a suit challenging the results.

Judge Patrick Stanton filed an order granting Trustee David Weidenfeld's motion to dismiss the suit filed by Soojae Lee, who lost by two votes in his bid to gain one of the three seats on the village board.

Weidenfeld said: "We're done and I can get back to work. I mean, I was doing that all along anyway.

"He had the right to do what he did. He did it, the judge ruled, and that's that."

Stanton wrote that the suit is moot because Lee failed to name the other winning trustee candidates as defendants.

Although Lee contended he was only seeking a recount between him and Weidenfeld, Stanton wrote, "This argument misunderstands the nature of the election and of a recount. Because Weidenfeld and Lee were not seeking a specific seat, but rather were contesting an at large election in which three seats were awarded to the top three vote getters, it is impossible to recount the votes cast for Weidenfeld and Lee in a vacuum. Indeed, to, as Lee requested, declare him the winner of the third spot, the court must tally the votes for the first and second."

They "have an interest in the outcome of the recount" and "are necessary and indispensable parties," leaving the court without jurisdiction, he wrote.

"That's the way this works," Weidenfeld said. "That in contested elections in a race, you have to sue every person who ran in that race. Because it's not just changing the vote count between two particular individuals. But the vote count could change for everybody, which is logical."

Lee couldn't be immediately reached for comment.