Judge Mark Stedelin has affirmed the ruling of the Marion County Electoral Board that Republican Sheriff’s Candidate Anthony Decker should remain on the ballot and his votes counted.
The decision came Tuesday morning at the end of a judicial review of the electoral board’s decision in favor of uphold Decker’s nomination documents filed after a Marion County Republican caucus selected him as their candidate.
The attorney for the four objectors who asked for the review admitted it was too late to remove Decker from the ballot, but wanted the judge to order votes for Decker not to be counted. Attorney Jack Lydon pushed to have the Judge sign the order upholding the electoral board by the end of the day Tuesday to leave open an option to appeal his decision to the Fifth District Appellate Court in Mt. Vernon.
Lydon argued the Electoral Board made a mistake when ruling with Decker’s attorney that testimony about the caucus should not be allowed. He said that would have allowed the lack of a weighted votes by precinct committeemen to be addressed.
Stedelin questioned the need for a weighted vote of the precinct committeemen since there was only one candidate left at the time a vote of acclimation was taken. He also noted the objectors had not provided evidence or called any witnesses when presenting their case before the electoral board for him to review.
