Orbach v. Axelrod

Jerome M. Orbach (petitioner) filed an election contest after the Board of Election Commissioners declared Ralph H. Axelrod (respondent) elected Democratic Ward Committeeman for Chicago's 46th Ward. The trial court found for respondent. In his appeal, petitioner raises a variety of issues relating to the validity of the trial court's rulings in regard to whether certain ballots were properly counted. For the following reasons we reverse and remand this cause to the circuit court of Cook County with directions to dismiss the petition. The parties were candidates for Democratic Ward Committeeman for Chicago's 46th Ward in the March 18, 1980, primary election. The 46th Ward contains 53 precincts and comprises the Uptown and Edgewater neighborhoods of Chicago's north lakefront. It utilizes automatic voting machines, punch card ballots and paper ballots for absentee voting. On March 28, 1980, the Board of Election Commissioners, which administers elections within the city of Chicago, proclaimed the respondent elected by a margin of two votes. Both parties filed for a discovery recount pursuant to statute. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 46, par. 22-9.1.) Furthermore, petitioner filed his petition for election contest on April 25, 1980. The amended verified petition alleged that petitioner was a resident, elector and legal voter of the 46th Ward as well as a candidate. It alleged irregularities as to the voting procedure in a number of precincts. It specifically alleged that certain ballots were invalidated because the respective voters involved were not duly registered qualified voters, that certain absentee ballots should not have been counted because they had been handled by non-election judges, that the failure of election judges to properly initial certain absentee ballots invalidated these ballots and that several absentee and punch card ballots had not been tallied for various unstated reasons. According to the amended verified petition, had the foregoing votes been handled and tallied properly, petitioner would have been proclaimed ward committeeman.