Pasta supper may violate election law

By Susan Sarkauskas
A free spaghetti dinner for people who can prove they voted in today’s election could have run afoul of Illinois election law.

But the chairman of the group putting it on said Monday night he’s been assured if they open the dinner to everyone, they will be OK.

“I just wanted to share some goodwill,” said Jim Purcell, chairman of Building a Better Batavia.

After receiving complaints about the event, Kane County State’s Attorney John Barsanti sent out a notice Monday afternoon about the matter.

“Knowingly giving any money or other valuable consideration to another person for voting violates the Illinois Election Code and is a Class 4 felony. This would include a meal,” he said in the prepared statement.

Building a Better Batavia invited voters to the supper at the Lincoln Inn banquet hall, via campaign fliers distributed door-to-door Monday morning, automated telephone calls late Monday afternoon, and a sign outside the banquet hall since last week. The fliers and calls said voters who presented a receipt indicating they had voted would get a free supper. “We printed that, but we aren’t doing that anyway,” Purcell said. “We were not aware of” the law.