Court decision tightens 'vote early, often' practices

Absentee ballot ruling reaffirms Qualkinbush's victory

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

By Kristen McQueary  Daily Southtown

A state appellate court Tuesday set a new standard for absentee voting in affirming that Calumet City Mayor Michelle Markiewicz Qualkinbush did, in fact, win the April 2003 election.

In a 41-page decision, Justices Anne Burke, Warren Wolfson and Rodolfo Garcia ruled that state law trumps federal law in absentee balloting procedures for people with disabilities.

While federal law permits disabled voters wider discretion over who may handle and mail their ballots, state law restricts it to blood relatives.

The tighter rules were put into place in the 1980s to combat legendary Chicago-style tactics where precinct captains controlled absentee votes and traded favors for support at the ballot box. Absentee voting remains one of the weakest areas of election law, experts say.

Qualkinbush challenged Calumet City's 2003 election results after her opponent, attorney Greg Skubisz, won by a slim margin. Skubisz served as mayor for four months until a circuit court overturned the results.

The courts agreed with Qualkinbush that 38 absentee votes could not be counted because they were collected by Skubisz campaign workers. In some cases, the workers punched the cards themselves and mailed them downtown.

The appellate court described the activities as fraudulent and manipulative.

"Skubisz should not be entitled to reap the benefits of his or his workers' wrongdoings and must suffer the penalty of exclusion of these 38 votes from his vote total," the court wrote.

When reached at his law office Tuesday, Skubisz said he and his campaign workers simply followed federal guidelines, which allow the voter to choose who handles the ballot. The absentee voters were his supporters who couldn't get to a polling place, he said.

"The crux of our appeal says that anybody can mail a properly voted ballot at the direction of the voter," he said. "We didn't know at the time, for a disabled voter, it had to be by common carrier or a blood relative."

Skubisz said he will not appeal the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Both the circuit and appellate courts raised questions about tactics in the Skubisz campaign. One Skubisz worker, Michael Kaszak, admitted he helped voters apply for absentee ballots and then returned to their homes to help them fill them out. In some cases, he punched ballot cards himself.

Skubisz said in those cases, the voters were blind or unable to vote on their own, and they asked Kaszak for help.

Kaszak then took the ballots and mailed them.

But Qualkinbush's attorney disagreed.

"This was a concerted, planned effort that Skubisz used before," attorney Burt Odelson said. "In one case, they went to the home of a mentally handicapped person, so we had to subpoena him and put him on the stand. It was pitiful."

Under absentee voting rules, registered voters who will be out of town on Election Day or are unable to get to the polls can mail their ballots to elections officials. In suburban Cook County alone, nearly 40,000 people requested absentee ballots for the November presidential election.

Qualkinbush said she and her lawyers began to notice irregularities with a batch of absentee votes shortly after the election.

"With the decision of the appellate court now having been issued, it's time for this sad chapter in Calumet City history to be closed," she said.

The ruling sends a message to campaigns gearing up for local primaries Feb. 22 and general elections April 5, Odelson said.

"You can't go in and vote for people or watch them vote. You can't do that. And the only ones who can deliver absentee ballots are blood relatives," he said.