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* Glitch?…
— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) October 2, 2020
* “Glitch”…
a sudden, usually temporary malfunction or irregularity of equipment.
* This is not a glitch…
The Bloomington Election Commission said Thursday it has suspended early voting after learning of a “glitch” with its ballots.
Commission chair Denise Williams confirmed the problem was related to two Eleventh Judicial Circuit judges, Jennifer Bauknecht and Matthew Fitton. Their retention was included on ballots prepared by the McLean County Clerk’s office. But they were inadvertantly missing from Bloomington Election Commission (BEC) ballots.
Early voting began Sept. 24. That’s also when vote-by-mail ballots were mailed out. […]
“We are just brainstorming trying to figure out the best thing for the voter,” she said, adding the BEC is working with its vendors to get corrected ballots printed and hopes to get those mailed by late next week.
Late next week. Wonderful. Great job, BEC.
My own opinion is we have way too many election commissions in this state. They need to be consolidated into regional systems with experienced, full-time folks in charge. If nothing else, force cities to merge with their county clerks like Springfield did. Suburban Cook County, for example, does a pretty darned good job handling elections. Chicago does not.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:17 am
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“”Suburban Cook County, for example, does a pretty darned good job handling elections.”"
Yes. (knock on wood)
Comment by walker Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:22 am
Consolidate? In Illinois, you’re joking right?
Comment by Rough Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:25 am
Yes, way too many election commissions, but Illinois is only second in the nation to California for the most local units of government. What a shocker.
Comment by Shytown Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:29 am
Some day, elections in this country will be run by serious professionals, not like something out of Petticoat Junction.
Comment by VerySmallRocks Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:31 am
It’s not a terrible suggestion, except that Republicans have a history across this country and across this state of manipulating voting access and denying the right to vote to Black Americans, college students, and anyone else they think might vote Democratic.
Yes, the Chicago Board of Elections pales in comparison to Cook County Clerk’s Office.
To be fair, most of the state and most of the nation pales in comparison to the Cook County Clerk’s Office. I don’t envy the job of the Chicago Board of Elections, starting with the fact that there are five primary language besides English widely spoken in Chicago: Spanish, Polish, Arabic, Chinese, and Tagalog.
Comment by Thomas Paine Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:34 am
As someone in Cook County, I was surprised to see Bloomington having their own system independent of the county. There should be a statewide mandate that counties automatically manage the elections, with a local option to opt out if above a certain population (100K?). The problem is funding…the local governments would have to spend their existing election money on the county system to utilize it.
Comment by NIU Grad Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:35 am
===I don’t envy the job of the Chicago Board of Elections===
Whatever. In other states, they call hours-long election day lines in black precincts “vote suppression.” In Chicago, it’s called “enthusiasm”
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:37 am
Use that word “consolidate” in reference to any body of government in southern Illinois.
Then stand back and watch all the “small government” conservatives lose their mind and preach about autonomy.
Comment by Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:41 am
Peoria county does a good job at managing a county wide election system. Their machines work and have paper trail. my city polling place is in walking distance of my neighborhood.
Comment by frayedcat Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:42 am
There is absolutely no reason for Bloomington to have a separate election commission from McLean County. Ridiculous. Wonder what Judge Fitton thinks of this fiasco.
Comment by The Ford Lawyer Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:04 am
Other than the tax vote , are there any close contests? Not really
Comment by Curious George Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:14 am
=== are there any close contests? Not really ===
CD13. Pay attention.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:16 am
Curious George: The 13th District contains part of Bloomington. That’s pretty darn close.
Comment by Steve Rogers Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:19 am
“Glitch” Is that like Trump “gaffes” like sending his lawyer to pay for dates that he does not remember or Durkie pretending his ComEd cash and crony hires are on on the square?
Comment by Annonin' Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:41 am
Bloomington voters rejected a consolidation referendum in 2018, but the question was poorly worded. Some also opposed the move because the county clerk’s office - an elected official vs. a commission - would have assumed the BEC’s duties.
Comment by Dan Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:42 am
=Whatever. In other states, they call hours-long election day lines in black precincts “vote suppression.” In Chicago, it’s called “enthusiasm”=
THIS is world class . . . . .
Comment by This Just In Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:44 am
This business with the judges left off the ballot will be resolved when someone sues and a court (another judge) creates a solution. Whether that’s another vote on the next county-wide election or what, who knows, but this is clearly not a glitch but a massive mistake on somebody’s part.
Comment by Socially DIstant Watcher Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:52 am
That’s more of a “whoopsy” than a “glitch”
Comment by Michelle Flaherty Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:52 am
“Administering ̶f̶a̶i̶r̶,̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶u̶r̶a̶t̶e̶,̶ ̶n̶o̶n̶p̶a̶r̶t̶i̶s̶a̶n̶ elections in the City of Bloomington, Illinois since being established in 1914.”
– MrJM
Comment by @misterjayem Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 12:01 pm
So here we are in October and they discover a problem. What a joke.
Comment by The Dude Abides Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 12:07 pm
Agree with Rich 100%.
Consolidate and professionalize.
Election technology, both hardware and software, is sophisticated and growing more so. VBM, early vote and election day operations are complicated and getting more so.
Comment by Scott Cross for President Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 2:07 pm
The DuPage County Election Commission gives new meaning to incompetence. Last time they bought a super expensive computer item to speed up results from the polling places to their main location in Wheaton. On election night it was discovered that the new device would physically not plug into the computers at the polling places. No one had bothered to test this new system before election night. The DuPage sheriff’s police had to go out and physically bring the ballot boxes back to Wheaton and the ballots had to be counted manually. “Oh well, at least no foreign government could hack anything in that election./s”
Comment by DuPage Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 2:44 pm