State's attorney investigating Batavia vote complaint

The Kane County state's attorney's office is reviewing an instance from last week in Batavia where two people who had voted early returned to their polling place in an attempt to vote again as a way to “test” the system.

No charges have been filed, State's Attorney John Barsanti said Monday.

“They were trying to make a point. They went to the election judges and told them what they had done,” he said.

The Batavia police were called to the polling place at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 950 Hart Road, at about 11 a.m. Nov. 2, took a report and turned over their information to Barsanti's office.

The Batavia episode was one of 60 calls made to an election hotline monitored by Barsanti's office.

Eleven calls or nearly 20 percent dealt with a spaghetti dinner being sponsored by a group that supported a ballot proposal to build a $20 million recreation center in downtown Batavia.

The group offered a free meal for people who proved they voted. Jim Purcell, chairman of Building a Better Batavia, said last week he just wanted to “share some goodwill.”

Barsanti said his office learned of the dinner Nov. 1, and notified the group that they would have to offer the dinner to everyone.

Under the Illinois Election Code, it's a felony punishable by up to three years in prison and a $25,000 fine to for a “person who knowingly gives, lends or promises to give or lend any money or other valuable consideration to any other person to influence such other person to vote or to register to vote or to influence such other person to vote for or against any candidate or public question to be voted upon.”

“I don't believe they intentionally violated the statue,” Barsanti said. “We're not accusing anybody of vote buying.”

The Houlihan's restaurant in Geneva Commons also drew the attention of Barsanti's office when it sent out an e-mail blast offering $10 off a $30 purchase for customers who proved they voted.

Betsy Flood, an assistant state's attorney, said a staff member found out and officials worked with Houlihan's management, who offered the deal to everyone the same solution as the spaghetti dinner.

“They were very cooperative in trying to fix it,” Flood said of Houlihan's.

Staff writer Susan Sarkauskas contributed to this report.