Democracy restored: Liberty Justice Center lawsuit vindicates constitutional rights of City of Macomb citizens
MEDIA ALERT from the LIBERTY JUSTICE CENTER Media contact: Diana Rickert 312-607-4977 Case documents available online at: libertyjusticecenter.org Democracy restored: Liberty Justice Center lawsuit vindicates constitutional rights of City of Macomb citizens Court rules that definition of majority is “unambiguous” and orders city to declare WIU student Steven Wailand winner of Macomb 2nd Ward...
MEDIA ALERT
from the LIBERTY JUSTICE CENTER
Media contact: Diana Rickert 312-607-4977
Case documents available online at: libertyjusticecenter.org
MACOMB, IL (April 26, 2013) Western Illinois University student Steven Wailand will be seated as 2nd Ward alderman in the city of Macomb after a McDonough County judge ruled in his favor in a case that sought to uphold the definition of majority.
In February, the city of Macomb held elections for several city offices, including the 2nd Ward alderman seat. Western Illinois University student Steven Wailand was a candidate in that race and faced Kay Hill, an incumbent alderman who was appointed by Macombs mayor. Wailand received 17 of the 33 votes cast in that election which is 51.52 percent of the vote. However, city and county officials refused to declare Wailand winner of the election, claiming that a majority required a majority plus one vote even though that alternative definition was nowhere to be found in the city municipal code, special charter, Illinois municipal code or any other documents. Rather than seating Wailand, the city held a re-do election on April 9.
In today’s ruling, McDonough County Judge Rodney Clark said that the definition of “majority” was “unambiguous” and that it was clear Wailand had won the election.
It is “not logical to have a person receive more than 50 percent of the vote but yet, not be the winner. This is not how America decides who should be elected,” Judge Clark wrote in the ruling.
The judge ordered the results of the April election null and void, and said in Friday’s ruling that the election “should have never taken place.”
Wailand was represented in the case by the Liberty Justice Center, a public interest litigation center started by the Illinois Policy Institute. After hearing about Wailand’s case in a Chicago Tribune article, the Liberty Justice Center stepped in and took Stevens case to court pro bono. Through emergency litigation, the Liberty Justice Center was able to secure a temporary restraining order prior to the April 9 runoff election to stop the City from installing anyone other than Wailand to the office of Second Ward alderman.
Diane Cohen, general counsel of the Liberty Justice Center, was the lead attorney on the case. Cohen said the implications of the citys actions reached the heart of Steven Wailands and all Macomb citizens constitutional right to vote and have their votes counted, rights that are protected by the Illinois Constitution.
The court has ordered the Macomb city clerk to notify Wailand that he was elected to the office of Second Ward Alderman and to administer the oath of office to Steven Wailand at the Macomb City Council meeting in May.
Cohen also said: “This case stands as a reminder that we must remain eternally vigilant in the protection of liberty from governments arbitrary enforcement of the law. The Illinois Supreme Court has recognized that voting is ‘the expression of the people of their will’ and is ‘fundamental to a viable form of government.’ This ruling reaffirms the citizens of Macomb and all Illinoisans constitutionally protected right to vote and have their votes counted.”
See the courts decision here
Media contact: Diana Rickert at 312-607-4977.
The Liberty Justice Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public-interest litigation center that fights to protect economic liberty, private property rights, free speech, and other fundamental rights in Illinois and beyond. First and foremost, the Liberty Justice Center seeks to ensure that the rights to earn a living and to start a business, which are essential to a free and prosperous society, are available not just to a politically privileged few, but to all. The Liberty Justice Center pursues its goals through strategic, precedent-setting litigation to revitalize constitutional restraints on government power and protections for individual rights. To learn more about the Liberty Justice Center, visit: libertyjusticecenter.org