Illinois State Board of Elections met July 29.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
PRESENT: Ian K. Linnabary, Chair
Casandra B. Watson, Vice Chair
William J. Cadigan, Member
Laura K. Donahue, Member
Catherine S. McCrory, Member
William M. McGuffage, Member
Rick S. Terven, Sr., Member
ABSENT: Tonya L. Genovese, Member
ALSO PRESENT: Bernadette M. Matthews, Executive Director
Jeremy Kirk, Assistant Executive Director
Marni M. Malowitz, General Counsel
Amy L. Calvin, Board Liaison
The meeting convened at 10:35 a.m. via videoconference with seven Members present. Chair Linnabary and Members Cadigan, McCrory, McGuffage and Terven were present in the Chicago office, Member Donahue was present in the Springfield office and Vice Chair Watson was present via Zoom. Member Genovese was absent and Member Terven held her proxy.
Chair Linnabary opened the meeting by leading everyone in the pledge of allegiance.
Ms. Matthews presented the official vote totals following the canvass of results of the June 28 General Primary Election and asked for Board approval. Member Cadigan moved to certify the proclamation of results of the June 28 General Primary Election. Member McCrory seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Member Cadigan moved to approve the minutes from the June meeting as presented. Member Terven seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Ms. Malowitz presented a lack of apparent conformity for the nominating petitions of Ieisha Walker, who filed to run as Representative in the General Assembly in the 7th District. She explained that Ms. Walker filed petitions without any signatures. Ms. Walker was present and said there was confusion with the newly formed district boundaries and she was unsure of where to collect the signatures. She believes she is now in the 10th District, not the 7th. It was noted that the notice that was previously sent to Ms. Walker would be amended to include the date of July 29, 2022 for Board disposal. Member Cadigan moved to strike the petitions of Ms. Walker for lack of apparent conformity. Member McGuffage seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Ms. Malowitz presented and summarized an appeal of campaign disclosure fines for agenda item 4.a.4) SBE v. Franklin County Republican Central Committee, 346, 21AJ035. She concurred with the hearing officer recommendation to deny the appeal for lack of an adequate defense. Dalton Woolard, the former Treasurer of the committee was present and said he misunderstood the filing requirements. Theresa Renick, the current Treasurer of the committee was present and offered a settlement of $2,300 that could be paid today. Member Terven moved to deny the appeal and accept the settlement offer of $2,300 payable today. Member Cadigan seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Ms. Malowitz presented and summarized an appeal of campaign disclosure fines for agenda item 4.a.5) SBE v. Illinois Licensed Beverage Association PAC, 424, 22AD002. She concurred with the hearing officer recommendation to deny the appeal for lack of an adequate defense. Dan Clausner, Executive Director of the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association was present on behalf of the committee and explained that the committee has lost members and been unable to hold events due to COVID. He said that failure to upload the A-1 reports was an inadvertent error. He then offered a settlement of $1,875. Member Donahue moved to deny the appeal and accept the settlement offer of $1,875 to be paid within fourteen days. Member McGuffage seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Member Cadigan moved to grant the following appeals of campaign disclosure fines for agenda items 4.a.1-3:
1) SBE v. Illinois Veterinary Medical PAC, 160, 21SQ002; (pgs.8-12)
2) SBE v. Friends of the Fox Lake Fire Protection District, 27313, 21SQ080;
3) SBE v. DuPage Township Freedom First Slate, 36585, 21AJ025.
Member McCrory seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Member Cadigan moved to deny the following appeals of campaign disclosure fines for agenda items 4.a.6-8:
6) SBE v. Pope County Democratic Central Committee, 1045, 21SQ010;
7) SBE v. 207 Education Association PAC, 20579, 21JQ047;
8) SBE v. Shields 230 Democrats, 34963, 21SQ136.
Member Donahue seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
A listing of payment of civil penalty assessments contained on pages 50-51 of the board packet was presented for informational purposes.
The next item on the agenda was a complaint following closed preliminary hearing for agenda item 4.a.10) Everette v. Miles 4 Governor, 22CD007. Scott Erdman was present on behalf of the complainant and Beverly Miles was present on behalf of the respondent committee. Ms. Malowitz informed the Board that staff had been notified it was the intent of Ms. Everette to withdraw the complaint, which Mr. Erdman confirmed. Member Cadigan moved to recess to executive session to consider a complaint following closed preliminary hearing. Member Donahue seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 5-3. Members Genovese and Terven and Vice Chair Watson voted in the negative. The meeting recessed at 11:00 a.m. and reconvened at 11:05 a.m. with the same attendance as noted in the initial roll call.
Chair Linnabary indicated that George Blakemore submitted a request to address the board during public comments regarding agenda item 4.a.10 and asked him to proceed at this time. Mr. Blakemore offered his comments in support of Beverly Miles and minorities running for office.
As to agenda item 4.a.10) Everette v. Miles 4 Governor, 22CD007, Member McCrory moved to dismiss the complaint for want of prosecution. Member McGuffage seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Ms. Matthews began her report with an overview of preparations for the November 8 General Election. On the June 28 General Primary Election day, staff were available from approximately 5:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. to assist with questions and respond to any issues or events. Staff received typical calls related to election processes and procedures, voter questions mainly related to registration status and assigning polling locations, and how and where they could vote. The City of Chicago was unable to guarantee required election judges or secure voting locations in 73 precincts and those 73 precincts did not conduct early voting or voting on primary election day. Ahead of the primary election, the Chicago Board conducted outreach to those impacted voters, advising them of the closures and informing them to utilize a universal vote center on election day, or to vote by mail. The SBE and the Chicago Board did not receive any reports of significant problems related to these voters and it appears that the Chicago Board's efforts to inform the voters of the closure and the voting options were successful.
Ms. Matthews reported that new party and independent candidate petition filing was held July 5- 11, 2022 and the agency received eight petitions during this period. In addition, the deadline to file petitions to fill vacancies in nomination was July 25 and the agency received thirty-six petitions. Next was a late precinct reporting update contained on page 52 of the board packet. The City of Chicago as well as Cook County had a small number of precincts who failed to report unofficial results by 2:00 a.m., which was due to human error and technical difficulties.
Angela Ryan, Legislative Liaison presented her report which was included on pages 53-56 of the board packet. She discussed the Judicial Contributions Bill and said staff has concerns regarding the plain language and implementation of the bill. Ms. Ryan along with Tom Newman, Director of Campaign Disclosure, legal team, legislative staff and advocates have had discussions on possible remedies which were outlined in her memo. Ms. Ryan and Mr. Newman explained the three areas of concern, possible solutions and proposed clean up language. Board discussion ensued and it was determined that staff continue to pursue possible remedies. Ms. Ryan also informed the Board that the Vote by Mail report was published on July 26 and will be posted to the agency website soon.
Ms. Matthews presented the Accessible Vote By Mail (AVBM) status update by Jordan Andrew, Deputy General Counsel contained on pages 57-58 of the board packet. She reviewed the memo and said that the agency contracted with Democracy Live to implement a voluntary AVBM program for the 2022 General Primary Election. Twenty-three election authorities participated and of those, four had voters request an AVBM ballot. For the November 8, 2022 General Election, participation in the AVBM program is mandatory for all election authorities and staff will be working with the jurisdictions on implementation. Ms. Matthews said that in the coming months staff will be performing outreach and drafting the administrative rules necessary for implementation.
Ms. Matthews discussed the IVRS rewrite project and said that DoIT pushed back finalization of the Gartner procurement until the end of the month to finish up end of fiscal year projects. In addition, staff has requested and compiled contracts between the locally-based vendors and the election authority customers to review and assess the current vendor landscape. At this time, approximately 12 to 15 vendor contracts have been received and staff have begun the reviews. Mr. Kirk added that the goal is to develop a uniform process for transmission of data from the election authorities which will make the data more readily accessible. Mr. Kirk discussed the fiscal impacts of the project and said a line item could be created in the monthly status reports for the Board to review.
The voter registration activity, fiscal status reports and two year plan of staff activity for the months of July and August were presented for informational purposes.
Under other business, Ms. Matthews discussed procurement for the review of the SBE Policy Manual. It was agreed that that matter would be placed on the August 26 meeting agenda.
Chair Linnabary noted that George Weckbacher submitted a request to address the Board during comments from the general public and asked him to proceed. Mr. Weckbacher discussed the contents of the recent complaints he filed and his concerns about e-pollbooks, approval of voting equipment, voting system testing standards and administrative rules.
Member Cadigan moved to recess to executive session to consider pending litigation and retaining legal services regarding performance and potential discipline of specific employees. Member McCrory seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 8-0. The meeting recessed at 12:20 p.m. and reconvened at 2:20 pm. with the same attendance as the initial roll call. No formal action was taken in executive session.
With there being no further business before the Board, Member Donahue moved to adjourn until Tuesday, August 9, 2022. Vice Chair Watson seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. The meeting ended at 2:20 p.m.
https://www.elections.il.gov/AboutTheBoard/MeetingMinutes.aspx?MID=8HKWm16HSC8%3d&T=637982683941650553
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