Peoria County Election Commission Observer Report

​  The Peoria County Board of Election Commissioners met on Tuesday, November 10, 2020, with only Commissioner Burke absent.  Under Approval of Expenses: the only thing of note was a mistake on the Verizon bill.  They charged $67,000 instead of the $4000 that should have been charged.  It seems they wanted to be paid for increased use for the whole year instead of just the short period of additional use during the election.
   Peoria County received $246,000 from the CARES Act, and everything had to be reported by the coming Friday.  Director Bride said $56,000 still remains, but has probably already been spent.   The Postage Grant was for $87,575, but only about $60,000 has been used.  The CTCL grant has very few limitations on the use of $75,000, and Director Bride is hoping to use all of this.  He is considering hazard pay for election day judges, but wants to see what other jurisdictions are doing.
   The Election Office actually received four ballots that day, mostly from overseas, and they had 20-25 that were challenged.  The breakdown for how people voted went like this: approximately 39,000 vote by mail, 31,000 election day voting, and 29,000 early voting.  355 provisional ballots needed to be adjudicated before the November 17 certification date.  Vote totals surpassed the 2008 presidential election.  Over 10,000 voters signed up for Ballot Trax.   
  The current voting equipment will probably be fine for the spring elections, but it is obviously at the end of its useful life.. 
   Public comments included a complaint of more training needed on when to use provisional ballots.   There seemed to be one precinct in particular where this was an issue.
Irene Pritzker, Observer