Another day, another DeVore loss
Monday, Dec 12, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Peoria Journal Star…
The Municipal Officer’s Election Board for the City of Pekin voted 2-1 on Friday to remove mayoral candidate Becky Cloyd from the ballot. […]
The Electoral Board hearing was convened as a result of objections to Cloyd’s petition from Pekin residents John Burns and Tim Latronico. Both Burns and Latronico said Cloyd’s nomination petition was missing circulator’s information at the bottom of each page. Burns also said that some of the signatures had come from addresses outside of Pekin’s corporate city limits.
Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman testified that although Cloyd did not fill out the circulator’s information, she had circulated the petition herself, and had properly filled out her candidate information at the top of each page. Two of the signatories were determined to reside outside of Pekin’s corporate limits, he said. The board unanimously overruled the objections to the circulator’s information, but upheld the objection to the two signatures.
* Petitions are also supposed to be signed at the bottom of the page by the circulators. Two pages weren’t signed, so they were tossed…
Burns and Tim Latronico filed separate challenges to Cloyd’s nominating petitions, with the main objection being Cloyd failed to properly fill out and sign the circulator section at the bottom of each page. Cloyd served as her own signature and had filled out her address and provided her signature elsewhere on the petitions.
Cloyd was represented at the hearing by Tom DeVore, the former Republican candidate for Illinois Attorney General.
“These exact issues that were raised, those arguments have been in front of the courts of Illinois already, exactly as they were presented, and the case law is crystal clear that neither of those reasons are a sufficient basis to invalidate her petition,” said DeVore.
Early in the meeting, DeVore made a preliminary motion for [outgoing Mayor Mark Luft, who didn’t support Cloyd’s campaign] to be disqualified from the hearing. With the election code indicating the only barrier to eligibility is if the board member is also running for the office in question, the motion was voted down unanimously.
DeVore’s client is expected to appeal.
- slow down - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 9:14 am:
DeVore is approaching Simpson’s lawyer Lionel Hutz levels of losing.
- Give Me A Break - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 9:33 am:
DeVore, the Washington Generals of the Illinois legal system.
- Osborne Smith III - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 9:34 am:
Grifters gon’ grift.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 9:38 am:
I know nothing of this candidate, and don’t want to appear to be supporting DeVore, but Illinois really needs to stop kicking candidates off the ballot for simple clerical oversights. Is anyone claiming that the voters who signed the petition are not legit?
- AC - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 9:38 am:
“DeVore’s client is expected to appeal.”
Losing sounds more lucrative than winning.
- JS Mill - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 10:06 am:
Hiring DeVore to defend you in court is like hiring the French Army to defend your borders.
- TheInvisibleMan - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 10:13 am:
–stop kicking candidates off the ballot for simple clerical oversights.–
No we don’t.
If they were so simple, then it shouldn’t be a problem to do correctly.
–Is anyone claiming that the voters who signed the petition are not legit?–
Yes. That’s one of the upheld objections you are claiming is just a simple clerical oversight. The voters who signed do not live in the boundaries of the office being sought, and are not legit signatures.
Other pages were tossed out because nobody could verify who collected them by the required signature.
These aren’t simple clerical errors, like the staple has to be at a 45 degree angle to the edge of the paper. They are designed to prevent fraud.
- Bean Counter - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 10:17 am:
=- Friendly Bob Adams - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 9:38 am:
I know nothing of this candidate, and don’t want to appear to be supporting DeVore, but Illinois really needs to stop kicking candidates off the ballot for simple clerical oversights. Is anyone claiming that the voters who signed the petition are not legit?=
I find it ironic that the party of “election integrity” is trying to convince the courts to let major improprieties slide.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 10:25 am:
If you can’t do the simplest of fundamentals in getting signatures you shouldn’t be on the ballot. Thems the rules.
Now the simplest of rules are bad?
I mean…
- Skeptic - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 10:31 am:
–stop kicking candidates off the ballot for simple clerical oversights.–
Then perhaps stop trying to kick out voter’s ballots for simple clerical oversights too.
- Father Jones - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 10:52 am:
Funny how many of the folks decrying these anti-fraud measures as some tyrannical embodiment of bureaucracy and government overreach gone wild are the same folks clamoring for “election integrity” …
- Maya Louise - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 11:11 am:
Election Integrity at work.
People who play by the rules sure hate the rules.
Devore “losing is winning!”
- Tracy - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 11:12 am:
The worst lawyer in Illinois continues to keep his record spotless.
- I-72 Blues - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 11:14 am:
Dude is the Washington Generals of Illinois lawyers.
- Lurker - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 11:39 am:
I was glad to read that part about Mark Luft.
- Eyeball - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 12:53 pm:
It would be interesting to take a fresh look at Illinois’ petition requirements by reviewing similar requirements in other states. For example, is page numbering required in other states? That would help one understand if it is to prevent fraud, act as a candidate barrier or voter suppression.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 12:55 pm:
=== For example, is page numbering required in other states? That would help one understand if it is to prevent fraud, act as a candidate barrier or voter suppression.===
Page. Numbering.
The evil “page numbering” suppression?
One can’t follow directions? One can’t have an attorney check petitions?
Is this snark? Suppression?
- DuPage Saint - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 4:08 pm:
I think the more egregious thing about ballot access is the huge and it is huge disparity of signatures required to get on ballot if you are a new party compared to the self serving requirements needed by establishment parties i e Republican and Democratics
- Huh? - Monday, Dec 12, 22 @ 5:29 pm:
Do not disparage the good name of the hapless Washington Generals by comparing them to debore.
Everyone knows the Generals are supposed to lose to the Harlem Globe Trotters. That is their entertainment shtick.
It ought to be a reasonable assumption (I know something about you and me) that debore is filing a lawsuit with the intention of winning.