The Peoria County Election Commission held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, September 8, with all members present. Executive Director Tom Bride explained the State guidelines for PPE for the upcoming election, what they are, what has been purchased, and which will be reimbursed. Each polling place will need separate entries and exits and someone to monitor social distancing. Online videos will be used to train election judges. These will include information on use of PPE (hand sanitizer, face shields, and alcohol wipes) in addition to normal judges' training. Masks cannot be mandated for voters, but they will be encouraged.
As of September 8, the Election office had received approximately 23,000 requests for Vote By Mail. About 5500 of those were received on line. Any requests received by October second must be mailed by October 6. Voters will be able to track their ballots on line. If another person physically returns a ballot to the Election Commission, an affidavit must be signed. That is not necessary if the ballot is mailed or put in a drop box. The election office has received 200-225 applications for judges, with a goal of 400-500. Some judges have declined to work this year. Director Bride presented the Commission's proposed budget to the County. The only concern seemed to be from where money for the new voting system would come. The final budget may get tweaked, but so far it was deemed acceptable. Chris Schmidt, Connie Romanus, & Irene Pritzker The Peoria County Board of Election Commissioners held its annual meeting on August 11, 2020. The first order of business was to swear in new Board member Dr. Arun Pinto who has replaced retiring member LaColis Reed. Officers of the Board were elected, including the reelection of Matt Bartolo as Chairman.
During the previous week, the State's Attorney held a meeting to determine if several Libertarian candidates would be on the ballot. In spite of objections by a County citizen, the three candidates were found to have valid petitions with 344 of a needed 335 signatures. Many of the expenses for the November election will be reimbursed by the State. These include Covid costs like face masks/shields, hand sanitizer, and single finger covers for the voting machines. The State will also reimburse for part of the expense of judges, even though there should be fewer needed. As of August 11, almost 14,000 applications for Vote By Mail had been received. There will be another mailing from the Secretary of State later this month, so there will probably be more applications received after that. When Director Tom Bride was asked about requiring face masks at polling places, he deferred to the State's Attorney. Some individual polling places may have their own requirements. The State's Attorney recommended a talk with the Health Department. This topic will be discussed again next month. The Board also discussed the 2021 Budget Request that needs to be approved by the County Board. Expenses next year should be lower, since there will only be local elections. A big expense coming in 2022 will be a voting system. The one currently in use is sixteen years old. The Board asked Director Bride to put a half time position back into the budget. Irene Pritzker, Observer The Peoria County Election Commission held its July meeting with discussion, followed by approval of bids for two pieces of equipment that would be needed for the anticipated increase in mail-in voting. First was a system for ballot packing, sorting, and scanning. The one chosen will hold 500 at a time, time stamp them, and verify signatures by a ranking system that will aid election judges. The chosen vendor, Digital Copy Systems, was considered to be the cheapest and the best. An additional license can also be purchased for approximately $16,000. The system as approved costs $49,512. The other approved purchase was for ballot packet printing and mailing services. The commission staff recommended Rumbach because it had good references and a lot of experience. Printing 40,000 ballots and envelopes and mailing them will cost $33,120.
Further expenditures needed to comply with SB1863 include: on line ballot tracking for both the office and voters (app. $2500); PPE and cleaning supplies ($20,000); four ballot drop boxes for the office and early voting sites with infrared cameras, postage and extra judges ($312,000-315,000). Peoria County has received a grant of $335,000 which must be used for vote by mail. It will cover the extra expenses. The Commission's attorney told the members that she had been contacted by the Attorney General's office about problems arising from the Open Meetings Act and the May and June meetings. They had not had proper notification, and a complaint had been filed by a member of the media. There would be no penalty, but things would have to change going forward. Irene Pritzker, Observer The Peoria County Election Commission held their June meeting on FaceBook Live. Two League members tried to follow it with mixed results. One was kicked off after about 10 minutes, and even after getting back on, had no sound—only closed captioning. The other could follow most of the meeting, with sound, but had glitches at various times. The Board is hoping to meet in person in July, assuming the State is in Phase 4.
Director Tom Bride presented several budget amendments anticipating the County Board approving an increase of $300,000, and the Governor signing Senate Bill 1863, which includes measures to expand vote by mail and early voting for the November general election. (Both of these things happened that afternoon.) The office will need to mail over 68,000 vote-by-mail applications by August 1. They will need software for a second scanner, a process sorter that can scan return envelopes and verify signatures, a secure ballot box for returned ballots, printing and postage expenses for applications and ballots, and extra judges. Savings will be found by reducing the number of early voting days at specific locations and some consolidation of polling places. Polling places located in senior living facilities will be moved to other locations that are already being used. Director Bride is anticipating few problems with recruiting judges, since the new law will close schools on election day. This will allow teachers and students to be judges that day, taking the pressure off senior citizens who might not wish to spend the whole day with strangers. The Commission's attorney reported that the court case concerning whether the Commission had to pay real estate taxes has been dismissed with prejudice, meaning that it is settled. The Commission will pay pro rated taxes to the landlord, who will in turn pay the City and County. Even with taxes included, rent for the location is still considered reasonable. Chris Schmidt & Irene Pritzker The Peoria County Election Commission held its monthly meeting via teleconference with all commissioners attending. There were two main topics covered: county budget cuts and vote by mail.
The county had asked the Commission to cut 23.9% of their budget, but Director Tom Bride pointed out that those cuts would be next to impossible. $73,000 goes toward building expenses that other County departments do not have, since they are primarily located in the courthouse. Another $135,000 goes to licensing and support contracts involved in voting. The second largest part of the budget is election judges. Savings could possibly be found by reducing early voting days, reducing polling places, and cutting a half time worker. He could see no way to meet the goal of reduced expenses and still meet statutory obligations. No one knows what the elections will look like in November. Director Bride expects some money from the state and federal governments, but he has no idea how much. As for voting by mail, staff is looking at three different scenarios: the same percentages as in March, half of all votes coming by mail, and all votes coming by mail. Without payments from the state, the last scenario would be extremely difficult. Irene Pritzker, Observer The Board of Election Commissioners held their April 14, 2020, meeting using audio conferencing. Regular observers were given the phone number and code to call in. All five commissioners participated. The final report on the general primary was sent to the State today (4/14/20). Hopefully, the County will be reimbursed by the State for various expenses due to the corona virus. Everything has been cleaned and put away. Numbers for the election: 62% of those eligible voted; 12 ½% voted by mail (a record high); 25% voted early.
A discussion was held on what to do for those voters who could not ask for a ballot on line because they had registered before the office became computerized. This is just 4% of registered voters. They can receive a ballot if they phone or write the office, but the County does not have a Social Security number or driver's license on file for them. It was decided that the website will explain what the voter is to do. This cannot be done until 90 days before the next election. If the State chooses to go to all vote-by-mail, Peoria County could not handle all ballots being done this way. The State would have to help out. The meeting ended with the Commission going into executive session to discuss a recommended settlement with a current law suit. Irene Pritzker, Observer The Peoria County Election Commission held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 10, 2020. The meeting started late due to a lack of quorum until Sandra Burke arrived at 2:06. Commissioners Ketterer and Reed were absent.
That morning director Bride had received a phone call from Independence Village requesting that the polling place be moved from their location due to coronavirus concerns and their elderly residents. Bride then contacted the other two senior residences, St. Sharbel and Lutheran Hillside Village. They, too, asked that the polling places be moved. Director Bride was able to move all three to nearby polling places, with placement on the other side of the room to cut down on confusion. A mailing was to be sent to all affected voters. As of March 10, 2514 vote by mail ballots had been sent out, with approximately 1000 already returned. There had also been 2550 early voters. It was brought to the commission's attention that people who had registered to vote many years ago had not been asked for a driver's license or social security number. This has made it difficult for some to receive vote by mail ballots, since two forms of ID are now needed. Those people affected can update their information either in person or by phone. Irene Pritzker Executive Director Tom Bride gave an update on the primary election in March: 540 ballots have been mailed with 70 already returned, including the first one which came from Singapore! He announced 150 early voters, but several more showed up during the board meeting. He expects 20% of voters to vote by mail.
Director Bride would like to look into finding the best replacement for the current voting system. The one in use now was purchased in 2005 and first used in March of 2006. He is concerned that the vendor will stop supporting the current machines. Machines would not be replaced until summer of 2021 so as not to interfere with this year's election cycle. He is already holding discussions with the County and plans on sending out Requests for Information this summer so there would be plenty of time to make a decision. Planning is difficult because the state could change to more vote by mail. There is already discussion in the Legislature, and things can change very quickly. Irene Pritzker, Observer The Peoria County Election Commission approved the spending of moneys received through various grants.
Approved was the schedule for early voting for the March 17, 2020, general primary. Early voting will begin forty days before the election at the Commission office and two weeks before the election at other locations. ICC North will not be a voting location because of its proximity to the Commission office. The schedule and locations should be on the website now. Tom Bride, executive director, is looking for a Ballot Packet Scanning & Sorting System to computerize verifications for vote by mail. The request for bids has resulted in three companies asking for information. Hopefully, more information will be available at the November meeting, with a vote in December. Quorum included: Matt Bartolo, James Manning, and Sandra Burke. A representative of the State's Attorney's office was present. Irene Pritzker, Observer All members were present at the September 10 meeting and arrived early. Minutes, expenses, and reimbursement for expenses related to the HAVA Security Grant were approved. Additional cameras, door access panels, software, and training have already been added. Director Tom Bride will also be asking for partial reimbursement for some County expenses that were pushed by election needs.
Staff is currently looking at ballot readers, and a Request For Purchase will go out once exact needs are determined. The State's Attorney was not present, but Director Bride reported that the County is getting close to a determination on the property tax issue (whether the landlord is responsible for real estate tax on the part of the building housing the election commission). Irene Pritzker, Observer |
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