The Peoria County Board of Election Commissioners met on Tuesday, November 13, 2018, with commissioner LaColis Reed absent.
While going over the month's bills, Director Tom Bride asked for permission to spend up to $70,000 to pay for election judges. He might not need that much, but he wanted to be sure to have enough to cover all the judges, including early voting, election day, troubleshooting, and check-in judges, and their mileage. That was approved. A budget amendment was also approved to align it with the County's budget. The Election Commission budget was reduced by $20,000, but because of the uncertainty of costs involved with the move and the November election when the Commission budget was first approved, the lower figure was easily met. The Brandywine building will have the moveable wall installed on November 15, except for the panel including the door. Everything should be unpacked and stored in the very near future. The canvas of the November 6 election will be held on November 21. Fourteen ballots from out of state and out of country were received the day of the meeting, and some challenged ballots were still to be determined. A few minor glitches occurred during voting due to split precincts. Some people in a few precincts were to vote on the Park District referendum, and some were not. It was explained in great detail how these glitches were handled, and that no votes were missed or counted when they should not have been. Procedures have been put in place to assure that these problems will not arise in the future. The Commission's attorney said that the owner of the Brandywine building has threatened to sue over real estate taxes for the building. This should not be a problem because there is nothing is the lease saying that Peoria County must pay a share of the taxes. A new subcommittee has been formed to study the November 6 election, to determine what worked, what did not work, and find ways to implement efficiencies for the next election. Irene Pritzker, Observer On September 18, 2018, the Peoria County Election Commission held its first meeting at their new location on Brandywine Drive. All commissioners were present except for Sandra Burke.
Tom Bride, executive director, is looking into getting a covered bus stop outside the office. The new location gives the employees much needed organized storage space. They will be trained on using all of the smart utilities in the building. The door/wall allowing more or less space in the main part of the facility will not be installed until after the election because it would cause disruption for a whole day. Vote by mail ballots were to go out on Friday, September 21. The office has already received approximately 5000 requests. On site voting will start at the satellite locations on October 22. The procedure for the mail-in ballots was explained. Signatures are checked as they come in—within two days. They are scanned and processed when enough come in to warrant calling in judges. Irene Pritzker, Observer 8/22/2018: The Peoria County Election Commission held its annual meeting on August 22, 2018. Matt Bartolo and David Collins were reappointed and Sandra Burke was seated as the replacement for outgoing member Camille Gibson. David Collins was also reelected as the Chair of the Commission. A resolution was passed unanimously to honor Camille Gibson for her years of service.
Moving day for the Commission will be September 11, and is expected to take two days. The new phone number will go live on September 13. The staff will do their own packing, in part to save money, but mostly so they will know where everything is as they start to unpack. Signage should be up already. Refinishing the parking lot was a concern that was discussed. 3/13/2018: The Election Commission this month welcomed back director Tom Bride.
In going over the month's bills, it was explained that the Commission receives a utility bill for the whole Brandywine building, but the owner reimburses the County for his share of the building. As of March 13, there have already been close to 1300 early voters in the primary. This is much higher than in 2014 when the last gubernatorial election was held. The Brandywine remodel is current on the projected timeline. There were some very minor changes in design, but the project should be let out for bids in April. The bidding process will include a September 1, completion date. Dewberry's estimated cost of the remodel is $620,000, but that includes contingencies and is not based on bids. Over the summer, satellite locations for early voting will need to be found. One location must, by law, be the Commission office. That location is very close to the current ICC Peoria spot. Some place close to the current office will need to be found that is convenient to residents south of the interstate. Irene Pritzker, Observer 7/10/2018: The Election Commission held its monthly meeting on July 10, with Commissioner Reed absent. During the discussion of the payment of bills, it was noted that Peoria County had not yet filed for a tax exemption for the part of the Brandywine building that will be housing the Election Commission. Since the Commission will be using 55% of the building, that percentage of real estate taxes should not need to be paid. Those taxes that the Commission has already paid should be reimbursed. However, the County, which leases the building, has not yet filed the tax exemption.
10/16/2018: During the regular October meeting of the Board of Election Commissioners, a question was asked during the explanation of Bills about the use of flashdrives. Executive Director Tom Bride explained that once the drives are used in voting equipment, they are never again used in voting equipment. They can be utilized for other purposes, but not in voting equipment.
As of October 16, 9000 ballots had been sent out with 47% returned already. Director Bride anticipates 35% voting early. Early voting at satellite sites begins on October 21. 5/15/2018: The Election Commission started their monthly meeting with approval of current bills. The only addition to the normal bills was the cost of the cage and lock at the Brandywine location. All the paper voter cards have already been moved there. Also at the Brandywine location, all the flooring and drywall have been taken out, thus removing any remaining asbestos. Director Tom Bride mentioned that his office will be working with the League again on mock elections. One reason for his willingness to hold these is his ability to get student judges.
Irene Pritzker, Observer 2/20/2018: The Election Commission meeting this month was the shortest meeting I have ever attended! Even without director Tom Bride, this commission and its employees work very well together. After finally getting clearance about who could be on the ballot, early voting started at the downtown office on Monday. As of Tuesday afternoon 32 votes had been cast and 252 ballots mailed. Training for election judges will be Saturday, February 24, postponed from a previous date due to the weather. March 5, will be the first day for voting outside of the downtown office. Federal Warehouse had the only bid for moving election supplies for both 2018 elections. Their bid of $5600 was in line with past expenses and so was approved.
4/16/2018: The Election Commission voted to accept the construction bid for the Brandywine building. It had already been accepted by the County Board and may not have been legally necessary, but the Commission felt it was a good idea to approve the bid. Bishop Brothers Construction will do the “build out” which will include construction, extra remediation of asbestos if necessary, contingencies, and commission. The County has budgeted $560,000 for the completion of this project. The Election Commission will cover the cost of security cameras and any new furniture.
In his Executive Director report, Tom Bride said the March primary went smoothly, with a decent turnout of 20.4%. Tom will keep an eye on a bill working through the Legislature that will allow DuPage County to eliminate its Election Commission and turn its function over to the County Clerk. Depending on the final wording, this bill could affect Peoria County as well. In an area where the League of Women Voters has taken an interest, conversations have begun about vote centers. Tom does not expect that bill to go anywhere at this time. Irene Pritzker, Observer 10/12/2017: All members of the Election Commission were present at this meeting. In going over the month's bills, they discussed the excessive water bill. The September bill was for 30,000 gallons of water! It seems they have been paying for the utilities for the whole building, even though they are leasing only a percentage. Director Tom Bride will be talking with the County who is working with the owner. The Election Commission should get a credit back from the owner.
The budget which will be presented to the County Board has six full time employees and one vacancy. Tom asked for another full time person, but was granted .6 (24 hrs/wk). The County will give a raise of 1.04% to all unrepresented staff. Mr. Bartolo felt that this was too low for the hard-working staff and recommended a 2% raise. This was passed as a budget amendment. Tom Bride believes more money could be given the staff within the budget. The Commission's attorney says they are researching how much discretion there is. Elected officials have more discretion. The attorneys are looking into how much commissions have. |
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