Peoria County Election Commission Observer Report

The Peoria County Board of Election Commissioners met on Tuesday, January 11, 2022, with four members in person and Mark Keterer participating by phone.  Contract negotiations for the new voting system were almost complete.  The purchase passed two county committees unanimously, and the budget amendment allowing the purchase was to be voted on by the whole County Board on Thursday.
Most of the meeting was taken up by an explanation of the new County precinct boundaries.  State law requires precincts to have approximately 1200 registered voters per precinct.  This would result in a reduction from 169 precincts to 116 in the County.  In addition to other considerations, there can be no crossing of township lines.  Chillicothe and Elmwood will see no changes.
Staff was currently working on polling places, trying to make only small adjustments.  They considered how much parking and how much equipment would be needed at each polling place due to larger numbers of registered voters.
The proposed precinct lines can be found on line at the County website 2020 Peoria County Board Redistricting (2022 Election) | Peoria County GIS (arcgis.com)
​Irene Pritzker, Observer