Elmhurst's Mazzochi Sues Vote Counters

ELMHURST, IL – State Rep. Deanne Mazzochi, who is trailing in last Tuesday's election, is suing the vote counters.

The Elmhurst Republican on Monday filed a lawsuit in DuPage County Court against the DuPage County Clerk's Office.

According to unofficial returns, Mazzochi's Democratic opponent, Jenn Ladisch Douglass of Elmhurst, was up by 280 votes as of Tuesday morning. Douglass had received 21,759 votes to Mazzochi's 21,479.

District 45 includes all or parts of Elmhurst, Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills and Western Springs, among other towns.

In her lawsuit, Mazzochi takes issue with the way the county clerk is counting mail-in ballots. She said more than 20 percent of the votes in her race involve such ballots.

She notes state law requires vote counters to reject mail-in ballots when their signatures don't match the ones in the voter registrations in the master file.

The clerk must notify voters of rejections and give them a chance to present evidence showing why their ballots should be counted.

But Mazzochi, who is represented by attorney Michael Kozlowski, contended the clerk was failing to follow the state process.

"In some cases, the mail-in ballot signatures are not being substantively verified at all," the lawsuit said. "In other cases, the DuPage County Clerk is using the signature on the mail-in ballot application — not the voter registration — as an exemplar to verify signatures."

The lawsuit said Mazzochi and at least two others have witnessed the verification of mail-in ballots that have signatures that do not match the voter's registration card.

Douglass is included as a defendant. Mazzochi said in the documents that she did so to ensure her opponent has the ability to take part in the litigation.

"(Douglass) is also adversely impacted by the DuPage County Clerk's improper signature validation process," the lawsuit said.

The clerk's "illegal process," Mazzochi said, applies to all ballots, "irrespective of partisan lean."

Mazzochi asked the court to require the clerk's office to follow state law. She requested a hearing at the earliest possible time.

Mazzochi has not returned messages from Patch over the last week.

She did email Cook County Record, a legal journal that first reported the lawsuit Monday.

“I wasn't willing to trust accusations or third-hand information. The Clerk's office even gave a DuPage County state's attorney the impression that they weren't doing this. I needed to see for myself. Sadly, it was true. I saw this happen over and over and over,” Mazzochi told the publication.

In the last week, Douglass has taken to Facebook to criticize Mazzochi's supporters' behavior at the clerk's office. The Democrat said the supporters were disrupting vote counting, but she gave no details.

Over the weekend, Springfield journalist Rich Miller presented documents that he said showed Mazzochi was using "trick tactics" in door-to-door surveys of those voting by mail.

In 2020, Mazzochi won with 54 percent over Democrat Jennifer Zordani. This time, Mazzochi lost more precincts in Elmhurst, which makes up much of the district.

This follows months in which Mazzochi has denounced officials in Elmhurst School District 205, particularly over curriculum issues involving race.

Patch left messages for comment with Douglass and County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek, a Democrat.