Chicago City Wire

The Association of Election Commission Officials of Illinois (AECOI) appeared at a House Ethics and Elections Committee hearing last month to show their opposition for a bill that would amend the election code and allow small counties to dissolve their board of election commissioners. 

House Bill 2451 proposes that the county board or county board of commissioners for counties with a population of less than 100,000 can dissolve the county's municipal board of election commissioners and transfer its functions to the city clerk through a resolution or ordinance. 

Adam Lasker, AECOI's counsel, said that the bill "seeks to undermine the will of the voters" who live in municipalities with established bipartisan election commissions. 

"Those election commissions were established by the voters through referendum approval and there is no good reason that the county board should thereafter be empowered to unilaterally dissolve the effects of those binding referenda," Lasker said. "[...] If this bill were to become law, it would effectively eliminate all the purpose and intent behind the voters' authority to establish election commission by referendum."

Lasker called the bill "a solution in search of a problem where no problem exists," and said that previous testimonies claiming a lack of transparency and oversight in election commissions are false. 

"One thing I would note that is drastically missing from the county clerk's office is the Open Meetings Act," Lasker said. "When a county clerk runs elections, all of the major decisions happen behind closed doors by the sole individual, the county clerk."

An election commission on the other hand, according to Lasker, is subject to Illinois Open Meetings Act rules, and election commission documents are subject to the Freedom of Information Act. 

"If, for some reason, those documents are not provided, the attorney general's office or public access counselor can readily assist any citizen or elected official to get the results of a FOIA request," the counselor said. "There is substantial transparency."

Supporters of the bill at the hearing included Knox County Treasurer Robin Davis and Knox County Board Member Pam Davidson, both of whom spoke about a history of ethics concerns surrounding their local election commission. 

House Bill 2451 has been in committee since late April. 

The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) and Norine K. Hammond (R-Macomb).