MACON COUNTY, Ill. (WAND) - Testimony for the 2018 Macon County Sheriff's race trial concluded on Thursday morning.
Two election judges from the 2018 General Election were called before Judge Anna M. Benjamin and explained in detail about how absentee ballots were counted. In addition, one of the witnesses walked through how early voting worked in the Macon County clerk's office.
No ballots were disputed on Thursday, the court only heard from witness testimony.
Court records show that ex parte correspondence was sent to the Courtroom J email address from an unknown sender on Jan. 24, 2021 and Jan. 25, 2021.
Cornell Law School cited, ex parte is improper contact with a party or judge.
Judge Benjamin cited she was made aware of the email sent by her clerk but did not read it.
The court will not consider "such inappropriate ex parte correspondence," court records show.
Judge Benjamin did not mention the email in court on Thursday morning.
Closing arguments will be written and submitted to the judge at a later date before both parties have a chance to respond to those.
A telephonic status conference is set for March 5. From then, more specific dates should be made public as to the timeline of this trial.
On Nov. 20, 2019, the Macon County Clerk named Tony “Chubby” Brown as sheriff with 19,655 votes. Brown won by one vote over Root. A full recount was done and revealed on July 24, 2020, which showed Brown ahead by 18 votes with 1,394 remaining ballots contested and uncounted ballots.
