[ Home ] [ ILCS ] [ Search ] [ Bottom ]
[ Other General Assemblies ]
Public Act 91-0285
HB0525 Enrolled LRB9102501MWmg
AN ACT to amend the Election Code by changing Section
10-10.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Election Code is amended by changing
Section 10-10 as follows:
(10 ILCS 5/10-10) (from Ch. 46, par. 10-10)
Sec. 10-10. Within 24 hours after the receipt of the
certificate of nomination or nomination papers or proposed
question of public policy, as the case may be, and the
objector's petition, the chairman of the electoral board
other than the State Board of Elections shall send a call by
registered or certified mail to each of the members of the
electoral board, and to the objector who filed the objector's
petition, and either to the candidate whose certificate of
nomination or nomination papers are objected to or to the
principal proponent or attorney for proponents of a question
of public policy, as the case may be, whose petitions are
objected to, and shall also cause the sheriff of the county
or counties in which such officers and persons reside to
serve a copy of such call upon each of such officers and
persons, which call shall set out the fact that the electoral
board is required to meet to hear and pass upon the
objections to nominations made for the office, designating
it, and shall state the day, hour and place at which the
electoral board shall meet for the purpose, which place shall
be in the county court house in the county in the case of the
County Officers Electoral Board, the Municipal Officers
Electoral Board, the Township Officers Electoral Board or the
Education Officers Electoral Board. The Township Officers
Electoral Board may meet in the township offices, if they are
available, rather than the county courthouse. In those
cases where the State Board of Elections is the electoral
board designated under Section 10-9, the chairman of the
State Board of Elections shall, within 24 hours after the
receipt of the certificate of nomination or nomination papers
or petitions for a proposed amendment to Article IV of the
Constitution or proposed statewide question of public policy,
send a call by registered or certified mail to the objector
who files the objector's petition, and either to the
candidate whose certificate of nomination or nomination
papers are objected to or to the principal proponent or
attorney for proponents of the proposed Constitutional
amendment or statewide question of public policy and shall
state the day, hour and place at which the electoral board
shall meet for the purpose, which place may be in the Capitol
Building or in the principal or permanent branch office of
the State Board. The day of the meeting shall not be less
than 3 nor more than 5 days after the receipt of the
certificate of nomination or nomination papers and the
objector's petition by the chairman of the electoral board.
The electoral board shall have the power to administer
oaths and to subpoena and examine witnesses and at the
request of either party the chairman may issue subpoenas
requiring the attendance of witnesses and subpoenas duces
tecum requiring the production of such books, papers, records
and documents as may be evidence of any matter under inquiry
before the electoral board, in the same manner as witnesses
are subpoenaed in the Circuit Court.
Service of such subpoenas shall be made by any sheriff or
other person in the same manner as in cases in such court and
the fees of such sheriff shall be the same as is provided by
law, and shall be paid by the objector or candidate who
causes the issuance of the subpoena. In case any person so
served shall knowingly neglect or refuse to obey any such
subpoena, or to testify, the electoral board shall at once
file a petition in the circuit court of the county in which
such hearing is to be heard, or has been attempted to be
heard, setting forth the facts, of such knowing refusal or
neglect, and accompanying the petition with a copy of the
citation and the answer, if one has been filed, together with
a copy of the subpoena and the return of service thereon, and
shall apply for an order of court requiring such person to
attend and testify, and forthwith produce books and papers,
before the electoral board. Any circuit court of the state,
excluding the judge who is sitting on the electoral board,
upon such showing shall order such person to appear and
testify, and to forthwith produce such books and papers,
before the electoral board at a place to be fixed by the
court. If such person shall knowingly fail or refuse to obey
such order of the court without lawful excuse, the court
shall punish him or her by fine and imprisonment, as the
nature of the case may require and may be lawful in cases of
contempt of court.
The electoral board on the first day of its meeting shall
adopt rules of procedure for the introduction of evidence and
the presentation of arguments and may, in its discretion,
provide for the filing of briefs by the parties to the
objection or by other interested persons.
In the event of a State Electoral Board hearing on
objections to a petition for an amendment to Article IV of
the Constitution pursuant to Section 3 of Article XIV of the
Constitution, or to a petition for a question of public
policy to be submitted to the voters of the entire State, the
certificates of the county clerks and boards of election
commissioners showing the results of the random sample of
signatures on the petition shall be prima facie valid and
accurate, and shall be presumed to establish the number of
valid and invalid signatures on the petition sheets reviewed
in the random sample, as prescribed in Section 28-11 and
28-12 of this Code. Either party, however, may introduce
evidence at such hearing to dispute the findings as to
particular signatures. In addition to the foregoing, in the
absence of competent evidence presented at such hearing by a
party substantially challenging the results of a random
sample, or showing a different result obtained by an
additional sample, this certificate of a county clerk or
board of election commissioners shall be presumed to
establish the ratio of valid to invalid signatures within the
particular election jurisdiction.
The electoral board shall take up the question as to
whether or not the certificate of nomination or nomination
papers or petitions are in proper form, and whether or not
they were filed within the time and under the conditions
required by law, and whether or not they are the genuine
certificate of nomination or nomination papers or petitions
which they purport to be, and whether or not in the case of
the certificate of nomination in question it represents
accurately the decision of the caucus or convention issuing
it, and in general shall decide whether or not the
certificate of nomination or nominating papers or petitions
on file are valid or whether the objections thereto should be
sustained and the decision of a majority of the electoral
board shall be final subject to judicial review as provided
in Section 10-10.1. The electoral board must state its
findings in writing and must state in writing which
objections, if any, it has sustained.
Upon the expiration of the period within which a
proceeding for judicial review must be commenced under
Section 10--10.1, the electoral board shall, unless a
proceeding for judicial review has been commenced within such
period, transmit, by registered or certified mail, a
certified copy of its ruling, together with the original
certificate of nomination or nomination papers or petitions
and the original objector's petition, to the officer or board
with whom the certificate of nomination or nomination papers
or petitions, as objected to, were on file, and such officer
or board shall abide by and comply with the ruling so made to
all intents and purposes.
(Source: P.A. 85-293; 86-1348.)
[ Top ]