Court finds Minor Defects in Statements of Economic Interests Not Enough to Invalidate Candidacy
An Illinois appellate court recently upheld a circuit court
ruling regarding the Election Code, finding that minor defects in a candidate’s
statement of economic interest do not invalidate candidacy. Guerrero v. Municipal Officers Electoral Board of the Village of Franklin Park, 2017 IL App (1st) 170486 (May 16, 2017),
Certain candidates
seeking to run in the April 4, 2017 municipal election filed various paperwork to run for office, including statements of
economic interest.
Objections were filed to these candidates nominating petitions alleging that the statements of economic interest were deficient because they failed to 1) state the municipality in which they sought office, 2) list their respective addresses, and 3) list the date. The matter was first heard by the local electoral board, which agreed with the objectors and found that the
candidate’s names should not appear on the ballot. However, the circuit
court disagreed with the electoral board, ordering that the candidates’ names
appear on the ballot.
The appellate court agreed with the circuit court, finding no defect in any of the nominating
papers, only in the statements of economic interests. The court addressed
the issue of whether the nominating papers were invalid because the disclosure
statements failed to list the unit of government or the date. After a
review of the record, the court found these errors to be minor and
insufficient to invalidate the nominating papers. The court found that
these small defects in the statements of economic interests were outweighed by
the public interest in ballot access.
While the court found these defects to be minor and refused
to invalidate the candidacy, candidates should still be mindful to avoid even minor defects in their
nominating papers.
Post Authored by Erin Pell, Ancel Glink
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