Losing aldermanic candidate Judy Fiske sued Northwestern Thursday, alleging NU skewed the results of April’s First Ward aldermanic election by bribing students to vote.
The suit asks that more than 200 votes — mostly cast by NU students in the ward’s sixth precinct — be thrown out and Fiske declared the winner of the election.
Fiske lost the precinct 217-15 and the ward 731-642 to Ald. Cheryl Wollin (1st).
Fiske’s lawyer, Richard Means, said NU illegally tipped the April 5 election in favor of Wollin when it held a post-election party in Norris University Center and granted points used for housing benefits to voters living in residential colleges.
“It’s paying people to vote,” Means said. “You can’t prove who they voted for and you don’t know who they voted for, but it’s illegal to pay somebody to vote.”
Means said the votes need to be discarded even if students did not attend the party or receive points for voting.
“If the offer was made all the student does to accept the offer is to vote,” he said.
William Banis, vice president for student affairs, said NU did not support either candidate but did encourage students to get involved in the election.
“NU, like all institutions of higher education, has a legal and an ethical responsibility to promote student engagement … in civic life,” Banis said. “Get-out-the-vote campaigns are an expectation.”
The suit lists the names and addresses of more than 200 NU students — some of them members or former members of The Daily’s staff or editorial board — who voted in the sixth precinct, which includes Foster-Walker Complex, Allison Hall, Chapin Hall, the Sorority Quads and Public Affairs, Shepard and Willard residential colleges.
Students do not need to hire lawyers because Fiske is not suing or pressing charges against them. Students would be charged with voter fraud only if a complaint were filed, said Tom Stanton, a spokesman for the Cook County State Attorney’s Office.
Wollin, Cook County Clerk David Orr, Evanston Mayor Lorraine H. Morton and several other city and township officials are named in the suit, but Means said they are not being accused of any wrongdoing.
Wollin is named because she benefitted from the results of the election and the government officials are named because they proclaimed the election’s results, Means said.
The suit also asks NU to pay Fiske’s legal fees — Means estimated them at $40,000 — and damages to be determined in court.
Fiske declined to comment on the lawsuit Sunday, referring all questions to Means.
First Ward resident Jeanne Lindwall, Weinberg ’71, is a co-plaintiff in the suit. Lindwall, a Fiske supporter, said she sued because there was evidence that recent NU graduates who no longer reside in the First Ward voted and that Fiske was denied access to campus.
“I’ve always had a great deal of pride in being a Northwestern alum,” Lindwall said. “I always thought the university stood for honesty and integrity.”
Weinberg junior and Associated Student Government Financial Vice President David Kim, who was named in the lawsuit, said his decision to vote for Cheryl Wollin was based on her platform and that he received no compensation for voting.
“I haven’t gotten any perks,” Kim said.
A preliminary hearing on the suit will be held today at 10:30 a.m. at Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago’s Richard J. Daley Center, 55 W. Randolph St.
Reach Greg Hafkin at [email protected].
The Daily’s Jason B. Gumer contributed to this report.
