Posted: February 20, 2010
By Doug Ibendahl
Don't be afraid to see what you see. -- Ronald Reagan
The GOP County Conventions are rapidly approaching. On Wednesday night, March 3rd, Republicans in all 102 counties will hold their own convention at a location in the county seat of each county.
Each County GOP organization will do two main things that night. First, the GOP County Chairman will be chosen (that's a two year term). Next, the 19 members of the Illinois Republican Party's State Central Committee will be chosen (that's a four year term).
Obviously since a State Central Committeeman represents a U.S. Congressional District, multiple County Conventions will play a role in many cases where that post is concerned.
Votes for County Chairman and State Central Committeeman are done by weighted vote at each convention. In other words, each Ward, Township or Precinct Committeeman casts a vote equal to the number of Republican ballots cast in that particular ward, township or precinct at the Primary Election held earlier this month.
The idea is that there is some reward for the lower level party official who works to turn out the Republican vote in her or his area. The more Republicans you get to the polls, the more say you have in picking your County Chairman and State Central Committeeman. That part is fine.
The Vacant Precinct Issue
What I want to alert all Republicans to is a big issue that's been a problem in the past, and it's being set-up as a big problem this time too. This isn't just insider baseball. Every Republican has a vested interest in ensuring that our top party leaders are chosen legally.
Here's the issue: Illinois law is very clear that only elected Ward, Township or Precinct Committeemen are to have a vote for the Republican State Central Committeeman (we obviously want to get that changed via SB600 to all Republicans getting a direct vote - but we are where we are for this year).
But our State Party is once again telling the GOP County Chairmen that they may personally cast the weighted votes from those precincts, wards or townships where there is not an elected committeeman.
This is the so-called "vacant precinct" issue.
The State Party attempts to authorize the voting of vacant precincts through internal rules. See here. The attempted "authorization" of vacant precinct voting is contained in Section III, Paragraph C of those internal rules.
The problem is this internal rule violates the clear language of an Illinois state statute governing the election of State Central Committeemen by the Republican Party. And as every first year law student knows, when a law is on point, it always trumps an internal rule. An organization can't go around a statute simply by adopting its own internal rule. If an organization's own rule conflicts with a statute, the statute governs. This is just basic black letter law.
The statute on point is the Illinois Election Code at 10 ILCS 5/7-8(a), which reads in part:
"Each elected ward, township or precinct committeeman shall cast as his vote one vote for each ballot voted in his ward, township, part of a township or precinct in the last preceding primary election of his political party."
That section couldn't be clearer. And if the legislature intended to allow the voting of vacant precincts by a County Chairman, the legislature could have done so. But they didn't.
And it only makes sense. Allowing the voting of vacant precincts disenfranchises the Precinct Committeemen. It makes a complete mockery of the American standard of one-person, one vote. The absence of direct elections (SB600) does too - but what our State Party wants to do kicks the disenfranchising up about 50 notches.
A simple example illustrates
Let's say for example that a Precinct Committeeman shows up to her County Convention on March 3rd. She's worked hard for months and it showed in this month's Primary. The Republican vote increased in her area and now she goes to the convention with 110 weighted votes to cast for State Central Committeeman (110 is just a number picked at random for this example, but it's probably typical around the state for a precinct).
But now let's say half of the precincts in that county have no elected Precinct Committeemen. Sadly, a 50% vacancy rate isn't uncommon around the state for our party.
So now, depending on the size of the county - a County Chairman voting vacant precincts could be casting 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, or even more weighted votes all by himself or herself.
At that point, the hard working Precinct Committeeman has pretty much wasted her time even showing up at the convention. Her voice has been almost completely diluted and squashed by one person - one person who is maybe being rewarded for not even trying to recruit good Republican committeemen to fill those vacant precincts.
The destructive disincentives in such a system are obvious.
More statutory support
There's another statute in the Illinois Election Code that further strengthens the case for disallowing the voting of vacant precincts. This section of the law permits a County Chairman to appoint qualified residents to fill any vacant precinct with a Precinct Committeeman.
BUT, such an appointment cannot be made in the period we're in now - specifically, the one month period between the Primary and the County Conventions. See 10 ILCS 5/7-9(i) of the Election Code which states in part:
". . . however, no such appointment may be made between the general primary election and the 30th day after the general primary election."
There is a logical and very sound reason why appointments can't be made during this 30-day period. The Election Code requires that County Conventions be held on the 29th day after the Primary. So by saying appointments can't be made for 30 days - the law is saying a County Chairman can't make appointments until AFTER the County Convention.
It's easy to understand why. If a mischievous County Chairman wanted to stack the deck at the County Convention, he or she could just wait until after the Primary and then appoint a bunch of his or her allies to the vacant spots as Precinct Committeemen.
I think everyone understands that logic and the common sense way the law is seeking to prevent some sneaky games by a few bad apples.
That's why the State Party's internal rule on vacant precincts is so ridiculous. It's pretending to give County Chairmen the power to do directly what Illinois law specifically prohibits them from doing through their friends and allies.
No one can possibly defend such an absurd interpretation of Illinois law.
Doug Ibendahl is a Chicago Attorney and a former General Counsel of the Illinois Republican Party. He is Co-Founder of Republican Young Professionals (RYP).
