Thornton Township Supervisor Tiffany Henyard’s lawsuit alleging that a caucus held last month improperly named state Sen. Napoleon Harris the Democratic nominee for supervisor was thrown out by a Cook County judge.

The decision, filed Tuesday and entered Thursday morning, affirms the caucus results, meaning the only way to elect Henyard supervisor is for voters to write in her name on Thornton Township’s April 1 ballot, barring any other rulings.

Henyard last month sued the Democrats of Thornton Township party committee and Harris, in his role as party committeeman, alleging that she was unable to compete for the nomination for supervisor because she was not given the rules set by the party ahead of time.

“That evening, I was very confident that I would be victorious and given the nomination because the people really do stand with me,” Henyard said at a news conference last month. “But I was not able to display that because our voices were taken.”

Henyard did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Harris and the Thornton Township Democrats, through their attorneys, said the lawsuit was improperly filed originally and since transferring to the correct court division missed the filing deadline. One of those attorneys, Burt Odelson of Odelson, Murphey, Frazier and McGrath, said that before filing a lawsuit Henyard needed to file an objection through the township, which was never done.

Judge Caroline Moreland agreed, saying Henyard has no way to proceed without having filed an objection.

“Since the deadline for filing objections has passed, it is clearly apparent that there is no set of facts that would entitle (Henyard) to recover in this case,” Moreland wrote in her ruling.

Henyard has 30 days to appeal the decision, Odelson said, though he doesn’t see a path forward for the supervisor.

“No competent lawyer would appeal this — it’s ridiculous,” Odelson said. “It’s not going anywhere.”

Henyard has argued that the Dec. 3 caucus, the first caucus to determine township nominations in more than 20 years, was held improperly, denying entrance to hundreds of people who sought to vote and could have helped nominate her.

At the meeting, Harris was nominated as part of a slate of seven people, including Thornton Township Trustee Chris Gonzalez and organizer Mary Avent, both of whom have spoken out against Henyard’s leadership.

As it stands, on the ballot for Thornton Township supervisor are Harris, Republican Richard Nolan and independent Christopher Clark.

Nate Fields, who filed as an independent, has a lawsuit pending in Cook County challenging the township electoral board’s decision to knock him off the ballot.

ostevens@chicagotribune.com