Chambana Sun

State Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) said an error on a ballot in Schuyler County was the worst he has ever seen but unlikely to be intentional.

The error listed the wrong candidate in the U.S. Senate race, listing Peggy Hubbard instead of Kathy Salvi as the GOP candidate. Hubbard lost to Salvi in the June primary but was listed on the ballot as an opponent to incumbent Democrat Tammy Duckworth.

“I don’t believe this error was intentional, but it is a grievous error nonetheless,” Halbrook told Chambana Sun.

“The wrong candidate is listed on the ballot! Any votes in that race cannot count because the wrong information is on the ballot. It is a serious problem and it needs to be fixed."

“It most likely was a mistake. I doubt there was intention behind it. The errant ballots need to be recalled and new ones issued. Every voter who voted with an errant ballot needs to be contacted and given an opportunity to vote with a clean, mistake-free ballot.”

“I have never seen an error of this magnitude on a ballot. This is a serious mistake.”

“Absolutely, we should be concerned about this. It is not just the Senate race at stake here. Other races could be affected. What if there is a close local election? What if these ballots are determined to be invalid because of the error? There could be all kinds of repercussions from the mistake made on these ballots. There needs to be a viable solution to correct the error.”

After it was brought up on social media, the Schuyler County GOP raised the issue.

Early ballots had the incorrect GOP candidate's name printed on them, according to Jason Goddard, chairman of the Schuyler County GOP, in an email to West Central Reporter.

Both State's Attorney Emily J. Sullivan and Schuyler County Clerk Mindy D. Garrett are Democratic local officials in charge of making sure elections are fair.

“It was indeed a human error that came from (Garrett's) office. 45 early voters have cast votes already on the incorrect ballots. 307 absentee ballots were sent out to voters in Schuyler County. All early voting was stopped immediately and the system was updated. It has been corrected and the ballots are now printing correctly. We have no idea on the status of the early ballots and how they will be counted. We have no idea on the incorrect 307 absentee ballots and how those will be counted. 307 corrected ballots are being sent out as we speak,” Goddard told West Central Reporter.

The importance the Republican Party has placed on election integrity throughout the campaign season has been noted by Don Tracy, the chairman of the Illinois Republican Party.

According to Tracy, the Illinois GOP's top priority as the election approached was ensuring election integrity.

Late in May, Esther Joy King, a Republican running for the 17th Congressional District, gave a presentation on election integrity.

“The Illinois Conservative Union gave an informative presentation about protecting your vote by keeping election laws local, stopping a federal takeover by liberals in Washington, DC, and discussing opportunities for people to personally help protect our election process, including becoming a poll watcher or election judge. These positions are critical to protecting the integrity of our elections,” she noted at the time.