Shipley v. Chicago Board of Election Commissioners

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Election Law
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 17-3511
Decision Date: 
January 27, 2020
Federal District: 
N.D. Ill., E. Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed

 Dist. Ct. did not err in dismissing plaintiffs’ section 1983 action alleging that defendant-Election Board violated their right to vote, right of freedom to associate and right to petition govt., where plaintiff asserted that defendants’ employees committed fraud and other irregularities when conducting “5 percent” audit of ballots cast in 2016 primary election by erasing tallies at end of audit so as to match preprinted count that had been generated by voting machine. Dist. Ct. could properly find that under operative statute (section 22-9.1 of Election Code) results of audit cannot change result of election, and thus plaintiffs could not allege that defendant deprived them of their right to vote. Ct. further noted that: (1) plaintiffs might have state-law claim for alleged violation of Ill. Election Code; (2) plaintiffs failed to allege freedom of association claim, where plaintiffs failed to assert with whom they were prevented from associating; and (3) record did not support plaintiff’s claim that defendants prevented them from publicly commenting on their concerns at Bd.’s  meeting prior to Bd.’s certification of precinct returns.