MEDIA ALERT: Liberty Justice Center files lawsuit in dispute over Macomb aldermanic race

MEDIA ALERT from the LIBERTY JUSTICE CENTER Media contact: Diana Rickert 312-607-4977 Case documents available online at: libertyjusticecenter.org Liberty Justice Center files lawsuit in dispute over Macomb aldermanic race Hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, April 4 MACOMB, IL (April 2, 2013) —  The Liberty Justice Center, a nonpartisan public interest litigation center started by...

MEDIA ALERT
from the LIBERTY JUSTICE CENTER

Media contact: Diana Rickert 312-607-4977
Case documents available online at: libertyjusticecenter.org

Liberty Justice Center files lawsuit in dispute over Macomb aldermanic race

Hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, April 4

MACOMB, IL (April 2, 2013) —  The Liberty Justice Center, a nonpartisan public interest litigation center started by the Illinois Policy Institute, has filed a lawsuit asking the city of Macomb to seat the duly elected winner of the Second Ward aldermanic race.

During the Feb. 26, 2013 election, Steven Wailand received 17 votes for Second Ward alderman – the majority of the votes. His opponent received 16 votes. However, city and county officials have refused to declare Wailand winner of the election. City and county officials claim that a majority requires a majority plus one, even though that alternative definition is nowhere to be found in the city municipal code, special charter, Illinois municipal code or any other documents. Rather than seating Wailand, a Western Illinois University student, government officials plan to hold another election on April 9.

The lawsuit, available online here, asks the court to order city and county officials to abide by local and state election laws and by the Illinois Constitution, which protects Wailand and all Macomb citizens’ right to vote.

The Liberty Justice Center has attempted to resolve this issue directly with city and county government officials. Here is a link to a letter that was sent to Macomb government officials by Diane Cohen, general counsel at the Liberty Justice Center.

A copy of the complaint filed in the case of Steven Wailand v. City of Macomb, et al, is available here

A copy of the motion filed in this case is available here

Media contact: Diana Rickert at 312-607-4977.

The Liberty Justice Center is a non-profit, non-partisan 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