Champaign County Clerk’s Challenge to Voter Law Denied

February's primary in Champaign County will proceed with no changes in how the votes are tabulated.

County Clerk Mark Shelden had sought a temporary restraining order against Illinois' undervote notification law, saying it infringes on voter privacy. The measure means tabulating machines make a beeping noise when voters fail to vote for a candidate in one of the statewide races. County Judge Michael Jones denied Shelden's motion Thursday. Jones said while voters have a fundamental right to a secret ballot, he said the law didn't require those machines to be used. Illinois Attorney General Spokeswoman Natalie Bauer says they're pleased with the ruling.

Shelden says it's unfortunate that Champaign County doesn't have another choice, and has to proceed with this equipment. But he believes he'll have an even stronger case after the primary. "People are going to be highly offended at the machines and what they're going to do, getting these error messages," says Shelden. "And a lot of people aren't even going to deal with it. A lot of the people are going just to walk out of the booth and say that somebody else deals with it."

Shelden says he'll also present complaints about the primary voting process from other counties, noting that optical scan machines are the only available tabulating machines in the state. He's hoping to have the undervote law declared unconstitutional. And Shelden is facing criticism from County Auditor Tony Fabri for spending more than $5,000 to hire a private attorney for the case. Shelden says he would have preferred the Champaign County State's Attorney take up the case, but it found no legal basis on which to proceed. He says his office spends tens of thousands of dollars to ensure that a fair election is conducted, and won't apologize for it.