Judge: Ill. to notify voters of misleading ballot

CHICAGO -- Every Illinois voter who goes to the polls next month must be notified of misleading language on the ballot, a judge ruled Friday.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Nathaniel Howse Jr. ordered state election officials to print notices directing voters to disregard the false information, which deals with a referendum on whether Illinois should hold a constitutional convention.

Howse acknowledged the notices might not be the best solution, but said it was the only one available in time for the Nov. 4 election and early voting. Even though Howse is a Cook County judge, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn has said his decision is binding statewide.

"I wish there was something perfect we could do. Given the timing at hand, I don't think that's a viable option," Howse said.

Nearly 3 million people voted in Illinois in the 2008 primary election and officials predict record turnout for an election featuring Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. Both sides have worked to figure out how to fix the ballot after Howse on Wednesday deemed some of its wording "misleading" and "inaccurate."

Howse said the state does not have time to reprint the ballots and it was also impossible to black out portions of the ballot without damaging them.

The notices will be mailed with military and absentee ballots and handed out at polling places beginning Oct. 8.

The ballots on whether to call the Seventh Illinois Constitutional Convention state inaccurately that not voting on the referendum amounts to a "no" vote. They also recount that the last constitutional convention referendum, in 1988, failed. Howse found the inclusion of that information inappropriate.

The Chicago Bar Association and Quinn filed the lawsuit against Secretary of State Jesse White and the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Quinn disagreed with the judge's solution but said both sides should still try to construct a workable notice for voters.

"A notice is hardly sufficient, given the magnitude of the wrong here," Quinn said Friday night.

But election officials said new ballots were not possible by the time voting starts.

"The court has wisely ruled not to impose a nightmare scenario," said Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. "We're very pleased with the outcome."

Officials still saw obstacles. Cook County Clerk David Orr said there was no way to notify overseas military members who had already been mailed ballots. Howse on Wednesday ordered Chicago and Cook County officials to stop mailing election ballots to members of the military and hold off on sending absentee ballots to everyone else.

White said his office was willing spend more than $300,000 on newspaper ads to publicize the change.

Suggested remedies that had been dismissed included mailing corrected language to seven million registered voters at a cost of $2 million or more.

The state constitution requires voters to consider the convention question every 20 years.