Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections

In action seeking to enjoin defendant-State Board of Elections from allowing mail-in ballots post-marked on Election Day to be counted in election if said ballots are received within 14 days of Election Day, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying Democratic Party of Illinois’s (DPI) motion to intervene in instant action either as matter of right or as permissive intervention. Under default rule associated with intervention as matter of right, DPI was required to show that representation by defendant-Board “may be” inadequate, and DPI failed in making required showing, where DPI could not point to any argument that it would make that Board had not already made and could not identify possible conflict between itself and Board. Also, with respect to DPI’s motion for permissive intervention, Dist. Ct.’s explanation for its denial, i.e., intervention would use court’s time and resources, as well as run counter to need to streamline and quickly decide instant election-law claim, was adequate to support denial.