Ives on Champaign County clerk misspelling Dabrowski’s name on primary ballots: 'Incompetent and intentionally sabotaging Ted's campaign'
Former state Rep. Jeanne Ives said Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons should halt voting and reprint Republican primary ballots after gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski’s first name was misspelled as “Tad” on ballots for the March 17 primary.
“The Champaign County Clerk, Aaron Ammons, is incompetent and intentionally sabotaging Ted's campaign,” Ives, who is based in Wheaton and hosts a radio show on AM 560 as well as serving as CEO of Breakthrough Ideas, told the DuPage Policy Journal.
“[Ammons] should halt all voting, reprint the ballots, send out corrected ballots to people who requested a ballot by mail, and recalibrate and test all voting equipment to ensure an accurate count of votes. These are obvious actions that any reasonable Clerk would do. Ted is the strongest candidate against JB Pritzker. The fact that one of Pritzker’s fellow Democrats is using their position to interfere in the Republican primary election is a new low in Illinois.”
Ives’ comments follow Dabrowski’s lawsuit, filed Feb. 15, seeking an emergency injunction against Ammons over the ballot misspelling.
"The other 101 counties didn’t get it wrong,” Dabrowski, a Wilmette resident, told North Cook News. “[Ammons] did receive the certified names from the state board of election, properly spelled, and obviously it’s something that could have easily been checked and double-checked and triple-checked to make sure they got it right."
The complaint states that while “‘Ted Dabrowski’ was certified,” Ammons “printed or caused to be printed ‘Tad Dabrowski’ on the official ballot and specimen ballots.”
By the time the error was discovered, “approximately 4,000 to 5,000 Republican official ballots, with errors, had been mailed-out” and about 200 early voters had already cast ballots with the misspelling.
"In my case, it matters a lot because our campaign is focused on ‘Ted for Illinois.’ ‘Ted’ becomes the key name. And so when that’s misspelled, that’s very problematic. Hard for me to know whether there would be any malice there, but certainly incompetence,” Dabrowski said.
According to the complaint, “Ammons had and has the mandatory statutory duty to correct mistakes in the names on the official ballot when discovered without delay.”
The lawsuit seeks to enjoin further distribution of the ballots, require reprinting, issue correction notices and ensure that votes cast for “Tad Dabrowski” are counted for Dabrowski.
The lawsuit follows a Feb. 13 demand letter from Dabrowski’s attorneys alleging that the printing error violates Article 16 of the Illinois Election Code and demanding corrective action.
“Champaign County Clerk, Aaron Ammons, has printed defective ballots, distributed defective ballots and generally misidentified Ted Dabrowski in election materials delivered or available to voters,” the letter from the Law Offices of Featherstun, Gaumer, Stocks, Flynn & Eck, LLP states. “The County Clerk has the statutory duty to print accurate ballots with only correct names of candidates under Article 16 of the Election Code. That mandatory statutory duty has been breached by the County Clerk.”
Ballot image showing GOP gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski’s name incorrectly printed as “Tad” in Champaign County’s March 17 primary.
The attorneys emphasized that the name “Tad” Dabrowski has not been certified as a candidate.
“More specifically ‘Tad’ Dabrowski has not been certified to the County Clerk as a candidate for office. The County Clerk has an additional mandatory statutory duty requiring correction of the ballots,” the letter continues.
On Jan. 27, the Illinois State Board of Elections confirmed the official Republican gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial candidates for the March 17 primary, listing four certified tickets: Ted Dabrowski and Carrie Mendoza, James Mendrick and Robert Renteria, Darren Bailey and Aaron B. Del Mar, and Rick Heidner and Christina Neitzke-Troike.
During the 2024 presidential election, voters in Champaign County experienced system malfunctions on Election Day that resulted in some voters being turned away and others waiting in long lines while technical issues were addressed. Former state representative Dan Caulkins said at the time that Ammons’ office had a history of election administration problems.
Caulkins told the Chambana Sun in 2024 that Ammons is “an incompetent clerk who refuses to accept any help or react or take responsibility.”
“The county clerk in Champaign County is totally incompetent and probably corrupt,” Caulkins said of the 2024 mishap. “This isn’t the first time we’ve had problems with the elections in Champaign County. He’s unresponsive to any outside group. You talk to the State Clerk’s Association, and members are open about his incompetence and his unwillingness to take any advice, any help.”
In the 1990s, Ammons, whose wife is State Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, was convicted of a felony drug offense. He later received a pardon from former Gov. Pat Quinn.
The Edgar County Watchdogs have questioned the pardon, alleging that Ammons did not complete all required probation tasks.
“Democrat machine corruption, but you can’t hide the fact it did happen,” Caulkins said of Ammons’ pardon.
Carol Ammons, who has represented the 103rd House District since 2015, previously faced controversy over claims about her educational background and residency. She is a co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus.