Underwood files motion to dismiss Oberweis’ contest of Nov. 3 election results

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville, filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss Jim Oberweis’ motion to contest the results of the Nov. 3, 2020, election in Illinois’ 14th Congressional District, spokeswoman Andra Belknap announced in a news release.

“Mr. Oberweis’ notice of contest is replete with baseless allegations, suffers from a basic failure of arithmetic, fundamentally misunderstands Illinois Elections Law and demonstrates a dangerous disregard for the will of the voters,” Belknap said in the release.

“Frankly, we regret that Congresswoman Underwood had to spend any time reviewing and responding to Mr. Oberweis’ baseless claims during this critical time for our community,” Belknap said in the release. “The congresswoman remains focused on the work the people of northern Illinois reelected her to do: ensuring a robust recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, making high-quality, affordable health care available for all and keeping northern Illinois families safe and healthy.”

Underwood’s motion to dismiss is available online at www.democracydocket.com.

Oberweis’ petition to the U.S. House of Representatives claims he won the race for the 14th Congressional District by 9,374 votes, while certified election results showed he lost by 5,374 votes; Underwood had 203,209 votes and Oberweis had 197,835 in the Nov. 3 general election.

In a news release at the time of filing his petition on Jan. 4, Oberweis alleged that results of discovery recounts showed there were enough illegal votes to give him the victory by 9,374 in the 14th Congressional District.

“The documentation we provided Congress today shows numerous irregularities and when the proportional reductions in each of our vote totals are applied, there is no question I won the race for Congress,” Oberweis said in a release at the time.

The 14th Congressional District includes portions of Lake, McHenry, Kane, DeKalb, Kendall, Dupage and Will counties.

Oberweis campaign spokesman Travis Akin said the House Administrative Committee had 30 days to respond and some action is expected by the end of this week.