Background
Marcus Lewis contested Christian Maxwell’s certification as the winner of the 2026 Republican primary for Illinois’s First Congressional District. Lewis alleged that election officials and others manipulated vote totals, relying principally on a WGN television ticker that appeared eight days before the primary and showed Lewis receiving 65% of the vote with “100%” reporting. WGN explained in earlier federal litigation that the ticker displayed mock data during technical testing and was inadvertently broadcast for 50 seconds; the State Board of Elections confirmed that it had no actual primary results at that time.
After a federal court denied preliminary relief and dismissed his federal complaint, Lewis filed this Illinois action on May 15, 2026. The circuit court dismissed it with prejudice under section 2-619 of the Code of Civil Procedure, concluding that section 7-63 of the Election Code required Lewis to file within 10 days after the final canvass. Because the canvass occurred no later than April 17, his petition was due by April 27. The circuit court also concluded, alternatively, that res judicata and collateral estoppel barred his constitutional claims.
The Court’s Holding
The appellate court affirmed, holding that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to hear Lewis’s untimely primary-election contest. Illinois courts exercise special statutory jurisdiction in election cases, so a contestant must strictly comply with the governing statutory procedures. As a primary candidate, Lewis was required by section 7-63 of the Election Code to file within 10 days after completion of the final canvass. His May 15 filing came almost three weeks after the April 27 deadline.
The court rejected Lewis’s argument that he could invoke section 23-20’s 30-day period in his capacity as an “elector.” Section 23-20 applies when a person has been declared elected and therefore governs general-election contests, not primary elections, which determine party nominations and are governed by article 7. Because untimeliness deprived the circuit court of jurisdiction, the appellate court did not address the alternative res judicata and collateral-estoppel grounds.
Key Takeaways
- A candidate contesting an Illinois primary election must file within 10 days after the election authority completes the final canvass.
- The 30-day deadline in section 23-20 applies to general-election contests, not challenges to primary nominations.
- Failure to comply strictly with the statutory filing deadline deprives the circuit court of jurisdiction over the election contest.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores that Illinois election-contest deadlines are jurisdictional, leaving courts without authority to consider an untimely challenge regardless of its substantive allegations. A primary candidate cannot obtain the longer deadline for general-election contests merely by also characterizing himself as an elector.
The order was issued under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 23 and is nonprecedential except in the limited circumstances permitted by Rule 23(e)(1).