(The Center Square) – After his name was printed incorrectly on primary election ballots in Champaign County, Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski has filed a lawsuit against the county clerk and called out ballot errors in at least five other counties around the state.
Dabrowski filed the complaint in Champaign County circuit court on Tuesday after ballots identified him as “Tad” Dabrowski instead of “Ted” Dabrowski.
“The clerk has admitted the error however [he] has initially refused to reprint the ballots, so we’re suing to have those ballots reprinted. It’s an absolute mess,” Dabrowski told The Center Square.
The Champaign County clerk, Aaron Ammons, is the husband of state Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana.
Dabrowski suggested there would be a different response if Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s name appeared on the ballot incorrectly.
“If it were J.C. Pritzker, I’m sure it would be changed,” Dabrowski said.
Ammons and his deputy clerk, Angie Patton, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dabrowski’s complaint seeking an injunction and other relief listed Ammons as the defendant and Dabrowski’s GOP rivals, Darren Bailey, Rick Heidner and James Mendrick as interested parties.
According to Dabrowski’s complaint, about 4,000 to 5,000 Republican ballots with errors were mailed out to requesting voters and about 200 in-person early voters cast ballots with the error.
“They should be sequestered, early voting should be stopped and they should reprint ballots. That’s what we’ve requested. We’ll see what the courts say. We’re asking for an immediate response on that, of course,” Dabrowski said.
Dabrowski said Joe Severino is on the GOP ballot in at least five counties, including Lake County, even though Severino’s candidacy was rejected by the Illinois State Board of Elections.
Dabrowski said Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the state legislature should be held accountable.
“We have bastardized the voting process, right? We keep lengthening the period. We’re turning this into election season. Election season opens up to more mistakes, more fraud,” Dabrowski said.
Dabrowski said Illinois needs to get back to voting on Election Day and voting on paper.
Dabrowski referred to a lawsuit filed by Illinois U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for Bost to challenge Illinois’ law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted up to two weeks after Election Day, a dispute that lower courts had previously refused to hear.
Democratic and Republican primary elections are scheduled March 17 in Illinois.
Catrina Barker contributed to this story.
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