Smile Politely

GOP candidate in Urbana’s Mayoral Election voted Democrat, potentially DQing himself

We saw that the Democratic ticket for Urbana Mayor was decided earlier this week as Diane Marlin pulled off the victory against incumbent Mayoral Laurel Prussing and Evelyn Underwood. 

While highly unlikely a Republican would win against any Democratic nominee, there is still a general election on April 4th — and Rex Bradfield is (well, potentially now, was) a candidate for the Republican opposition.

Appearently, Bradfield voted in the Democratic primary, which is a big no-no, potentially qualifying as perjury. Per the News-Gazette‘s report:

In signing what is called an “application and affidavit to vote” in the Democratic primary, Bradfield acknowledged that “I am affiliated with the political party indicated by my ballot choice.”

As per the report, Bradfield was given a ballot by an election judge at the polling place, and the person knew he was a Republican candidate. However, none of that matters, as Gordy Hulten points out:

Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten said that Bradfield shouldn’t rely on an election judge to know the fine points of Illinois election law.

“Even if they know that he’s the Republican candidate for mayor, they don’t know the legal ramifications of his doing what he is doing,” Hulten said.

So, yeah — Bradfield might’ve just disqualified himself as a candidate in the upcoming election.

When asked who he voted for?

“I’d rather not,” he said.

Bradfield, who has lost two previous races for Urbana mayor, a state representative race and a Republican primary for county recorder, was matter of fact about the possibility that he could be disqualified.

“If they take me off the ballot, well, that’s life in the fast lane. But I’d sure be pissed,” Bradfield said.

We all make mistakes, guys.

Top photo from Jeff Bossert/WILL.

Executive Editor

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