A hearing at the McDonough County courthouse revolving around the recent controversy regarding the February election for the Macomb City Council's 2nd Ward is set for 9 a.m. Thursday.

The lawsuit, brought by the Liberty Justice Center on behalf of Western Illinois University student Steven Wailand, seeks "proper and just enforcement of state and local election laws and to vindicate the constitutional rights of Macomb citizens to exercise their fundamental right to vote and have their vote count."

It lists the city of Macomb, Mayor Mike Inman, City Clerk Melanie Falk and McDonough County Clerk Gretchen DeJaynes as defendants in the case.

Diane Cohen, who along with Jacob Huebert is representing Wailand, said the lawsuit seeks a temporary injunction from the court "to inhibit what we believe is improperly holding a supplementary election for Ward 2."

Wailand faced incumbent Kay Hill in the February city election and won marginally in a 17-16 vote. The city's 50-percent-plus-one rule was applied, pushing another election in the 2nd Ward race for April 9.

But the rule itself is apparently not in any city statute.

The lawsuit also requests a Writ of Mandamus, which Cohen said is an order from the court to a government official requiring them to fulfill their legal obligations.

In this case, Cohen said, the order would be to "appropriately enforce the laws of the city, county and state" and to declare Wailand the winner of the February election. She added that the lawsuit also asks the court to declare that the definition of a majority is more than half.

Inman declined to comment Tuesday on the specifics of the case, but acknowledged that the city was made aware of the lawsuit. The city will have the necessary representatives in attendance during the hearing, and the city will follow any ruling made by the judge, Inman said, adding that the city hopes the matter will be resolved on Thursday.