Champaign County Clerk Files Lawsuit Over Voting Provision

Champaign County Clerk Mark Shelden says part of a new state election law threatens the principle of a secret ballot.

He's filed a lawsuit that would block local elections officials from utilizing the Undervote Notification Law in February's primary. That provision would indicate that someone failed to cast a single vote for a statewide office, like Governor or Comptroller, or even one that's uncontested, like Secretary of State. Shelden says after a tabulating machine indicates an error message, an election judge would give that person the option of keeping their ballot as is, filling out a new one, or completing their ballot. Shelden says people shouldn't be forced to vote for an office if they're not familiar with the candidates, or simply don't care.

"I believe that part of what's going to happen here is the intent is to try to intimidate people into casting all the votes for all the races," says Shelden. "Maybe they haven't made up their mind on a race, and for whatever reason, they want to leave that race blank, and we think it's their right to leave it blank and not be harrassed at this final step in the voting process." The Undervote law was part of the 2007 omnibus election bill. Shelden's lawsuit filed Friday in Champaign County Court would seek an injunction to block the use of the provision in February, but he hopes to have it declared unconstitutional. No other lawsuits have been filed in the state, but Shelden says other county clerks are considering such action, with hopes that state lawmakers will change the omnibus bill. He estimates around 8,000 Champaign County voters will receive the error message if the provision remains in place for the upcoming primary.

New York is only other state to have passed the undervote provision, but an emergency rule was passed there to block the use of it before the state's last election.