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Appellate Court Restores Candidate to Ballot After Civil Penalties Are Paid
Facts
Cesar Guerrero sought to be placed on the April 1, 2025, consolidated election ballot as the Democratic candidate for township supervisor in Joliet Township. Guerrero vs. Parker, 2026 IL App (3d) 250284, ¶1. In October 2024, the Illinois State Board of Elections (Election Board) sent a letter to Guerrero informing him that the campaign committee owed $6,550 in civil penalties, and that if such penalties remained unpaid as of the date the ballots were certified, his name would not appear on the ballot. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶3. In December 2024, Guerrero was formally nominated as the Democratic candidate for township supervisor. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶4.
On January 22, 2025, the day prior to ballot certification, the campaign committee’s civil penalties remained unpaid. Id. Accordingly, Guerrero’s name was included on a ballot forfeiture list pursuant to §9-30 of the Election Code, 10 ILCS 5/9-30, which provided that, “[a]n election authority is barred from placing on the ballot the name of any candidate whose political committee has an unpaid civil penalty owed to the State Board of Elections.” 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶4.
On January 29, 2025, the county clerk directed the township clerk to remove Guerrero’s name from the ballot. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶5. On that same day, the Election Board sent correspondence to the campaign committee acknowledging its receipt of payment for the $6,550.00 civil penalty. On January 30, 2025, pursuant to the county clerk’s directive, the township clerk notified Guerrero that his name was removed from the ballot. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶6.
On February 4, 2025, the Democratic organization held a special meeting to fill the ballot vacancy created by Guerrero’s removal and unanimously selected Guerrero as its candidate. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶6. The next day, Guerrero filed the Democratic committee’s nominating resolution to fill the vacancy and associated papers with the township clerk. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶6. No objections were filed, and the township clerk certified Guerrero’s placement on the ballot. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶6. The county clerk, however, refused to accept the township clerk’s certification on the grounds that Guerrero’s name appeared on the earlier ballot forfeiture list. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶7.
Circuit Court
Guerrero filed a three-count complaint in circuit court, seeking a writ of mandamus, a declaratory judgment, and alleging a violation of his civil rights. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶9. Specifically, Guerrero sought to have the circuit court compel the township clerk to certify his name on the ballot and further compel the county clerk to accept said certification and to include his name on the ballot. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶9. Guerrero also sought a declaratory judgment to that effect. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶9. Finally, Guerrero alleged that by depriving him of access to the ballot, he was intentionally deprived of his constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C. §1983 and §29-17 of the Election Code, 10 ILCS 5/29-17. Id. Guerrero also sought a temporary restraining order compelling such actions. Id. In response, the county clerk maintained that Guerrero was not eligible to appear on the ballot due to his earlier inclusion on the forfeiture list. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶10. The county clerk further asserted that Guerrero’s subsequent nomination was invalid because the Democratic committee did not comply with the Election Code’s eight-day timeline for filling a vacancy, asserting the vacancy was created the day that the ballot was certified and the fine remain unpaid. Id.
The circuit court found in favor of Guerrero on the first two counts and directed that his name be included on the ballot. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶13. In support of this finding, the circuit court noted that nothing in §9-30 of the Election Code established that a candidate must be removed from the ballot after all outstanding fines had been paid. Id. Moreover, the circuit court further opined that even if §9-30 required Guerrero’s removal from the ballot, the subsequent nomination by the Democratic committee to fill the vacancy was a separate candidacy for which he was not disqualified. Id. The circuit court also rejected the county clerk’s challenges regarding timeliness, finding that the earliest date that could be considered an “event creating the vacancy” was January 29, 2025, the date of the county clerk’s directive to the township clerk to remove Guerrero from the ballot. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶14. After various motions and cross-motions, the circuit court grated summary judgment in favor of the county clerk on the third count’s constitutional law claims, noting there were no questions of material fact with respect to the county clerk’s liability. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶26.
The county clerk filed an appeal on counts I and II. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶27. Guerrero filed a cross-appeal on count III and a motion to dismiss the county clerk’s appeal on counts I and II based on mootness, given that Guerrero had since been elected to and certified as township supervisor. Id.
Appellate Court
The appellate court first addressed Guerrero’s motion to dismiss the county clerk’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction based on the contention that at the time of the appeal, no actual controversy existed. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶32. The appellate court rejected Guerrero’s mootness argument, finding that the public interest exception applied. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶38.
Addressing the county clerk’s appeal of counts I and II on its merits, the appellate court utilized principles of statutory construction to examine §9-30’s application to the facts at hand. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶40. While the county clerk argued that the ballot forfeiture rule was mandatory due to §9-30’s repeated use of the word “shall”, the appellate court noted that when the provision was read in its entirety, the word “while” provided an additional qualifier and that §9-30 was no longer applicable once the penalties had been paid. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶46. The appellate court further noted that even had Guerrero been properly removed pursuant to §9-30, his subsequent nomination must be considered a separate and distinguishable candidacy, at which date there were no outstanding penalties. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶47.
Addressing the timeliness of Guerrero’s subsequent nomination, the county clerk argued that the ballot vacancy occurred on the ballot forfeiture date of January 23, and therefore, in accordance with 10 ILCS 5/7-61, the last day to fill the vacancy was January 31, while the nomination did not occur until February 4. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶54. The appellate court disagreed, noting that Guerrero’s nominating papers reflected no facial deficiency and stated that the vacancy occurred on January 30, when the County clerk vacated the seat. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶55. It further explained that to find an earlier vacancy would require the clerk to look outside the four corners of the filing, which would go beyond the clerk’s ministerial role in the election process. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶56. Accordingly, the appellate court rejected the county clerk’s assertion that the event creating the vacancy was the day the fine was otherwise due and determined that the nomination had been timely submitted. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶57.
The appellate court also rejected Guerrero’s cross-appeal on his constitutional law claim, noting that it was responsible for reviewing only the grant of summary judgment and not the denial of judgment on the pleadings. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶65. Through that lens, it found that there was no basis in the record that would preclude the circuit court’s determination, and therefore, affirmed its findings on that count. 2026 IL App (3d) 250284 at ¶66.
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