Illinois State Board of Elections met Sept. 20.
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 Tonya L. Genovese, Member Catherine S. McCrory, Member Rick S. Terven, Sr., Member
ABSENT: William M. McGuffage, 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, Donahue, Genovese McCrory and Terven were present in the Springfield office and Vice Chair Watson was present via Zoom. Member McGuffage was absent and Member Terven held his proxy.
Member Terven moved to recess the State Board of Elections and reconvene as the State Officers Electoral Board to approve the minutes of the August 9 and 26 meetings. Member Cadigan seconded the motion which passed by roll call vote of 8-0. Member Cadigan moved to approve the minutes of the August 9 and 26 State Officers Electoral Board meetings as presented, which was seconded by Member Donahue and passed by roll call vote of 8-0. Member Cadigan moved to adjourn the State Officers Electoral Board and reconvene as the State Board of Elections. Member Donahue seconded the motion which passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Member Cadigan moved to approve the minutes of the August 9 and 26 meetings as presented. Member Donahue seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Ms. Malowitz presented and reviewed the following settlement offers for agenda items 5.a.1-4.
1) SBE v. Chicago Latino Public Affairs Committee, 22755, 22AD018. The matter will be placed on a future meeting agenda at the request of the committee.
2) SBE v. Friends of Anthony McCaskill, Inc., 34590, 21CD022. Anthony McCaskill was present on behalf of the committee and asked for a continuance. The matter will be placed on a future meeting agenda.
3) SBE v. Edwards County Republicans, 36158, 20SQ134. Ms. Malowitz reminded the Board that at its December 2021 meeting, the committee was granted a 50% settlement offer of $5,112.50 to be paid within 180 days. To date, the committee has paid $1,900 towards that amount with $3,212.50 still owed. The committee is now asking for the remainder to be forgiven or lowered because it has been unable to raise sufficient funds to pay the fine. At the December meeting, certain members indicated that if the committee is unable to pay the full amount, but made a good-faith effort to do so, the Board might be willing to consider a lower settlement. Committee Chair Sherry Funkhouser was present and explained the circumstances surrounding the violations, which occurred under the previous committee officers. Ms. Funkhouser then offered a settlement of $777.77, which was the current remaining funds balance. Member Donahue moved to accept the settlement offer, which was seconded by Member Cadigan and passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
4) SBE v. Darlene Cannon for 2nd Ward, 36279, 21SQ181. Ms. Malowitz recommended acceptance of the settlement offer as the committee qualified as low dollar and the offer comports with the settlement guidelines. Ed Mullen was present on behalf of the committee and concurred with the recommendation. Member Terven moved to accept the settlement offer, which was seconded by Member Donahue and passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Ms. Malowitz presented an appeal of campaign disclosure fines for agenda item 5.a.
9) SBE v. Friends of Paul O’Grady, 21557, 21AJ009 and concurred with the hearing officer recommendation to deny the appeal. Paul O’Grady was present on behalf of the committee and offered a settlement of $1,625. Member Cadigan moved to deny appeal and accept the settlement offer. Member Terven seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Ms. Malowitz presented appeals of campaign disclosure fines where she concurred with the hearing officer recommendation to deny the appeals for agenda items 5.a.5-8 & 10-14:
5) SBE v. Mason County Democratic Central Committee, 309, 22AM004;
6) SBE v. Northern IL Alliance of Fire Protection Dist. PAC, 10576, 22DQ020;
7) SBE v. Illinois Association of School Social Workers PAC, 11397, 22DQ022;
8) SBE v. 207 Education Association PAC, 20579, 21SQ037;
10) SBE v. District 65 Educators Council PACE, 32766, 21JQ115;
11) SBE v. Friends to Elect Jim Gardiner, 34894, 22AM038;
12) SBE v. Citizens to Elect Sandra Lawlyes, 36163, 22DQ114;
13) SBE v. Friends of Sugar, 36357, 22DQ127;
14) SBE v. People for Ben Burkhamer, 36896, 22DQ148.
Member Cadigan moved to deny the above noted appeals and adopt the recommendation of the General Counsel. Member Donahue seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Ms. Malowitz presented a listing of civil penalty assessments necessitating a final board order and noted for the record that two committees paid their fines and should be removed from the list. Member Cadigan moved to assess the civil penalties against the committees listed on pages 74- 79 of the board packet, with the exception of the committees that were removed from the listing. Member Donahue seconded the motion, which passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
The random audits of political committees update and payment of civil penalty assessments were presented for informational purposes.
Complaints following closed preliminary hearing were next on the agena, and Ms. Malowitz indicated that agenda items 5.a.
18) Johnston v. Will County Republican Central Committee, 22CD003 and 5.a.
19) Johnston v. Weber, Pearson & WCRCC, 22CD004 will be placed on the October meeting agenda by agreement of the parties.
Ms. Malowitz asked if any of the parties were present for the remaining matters. Ed Mullen said that the attorney for the complainants in agenda items 5.a.20-23 indicated she would not be present and would not challenge the hearing officer recommendations. Ms. Malowitz asked whether the Board wanted to hear the complaints following closed hearing for agenda items 5.a.20-23 or dismiss them for want of prosecution:
20) Di Pasquale v. Deidre Baumann for Judge 2022, 22CD015;
21) Hardaway v. Friends of Andre Smith, 22CD016;
22) Di Pasquale v. Friends of Carmen Quinones, 22CD017;
23) Di Pasquale v. Friends of Christina Nonato, 22CD018.
Member Cadigan moved that the above noted complaints be dismissed for want of prosecution, which was seconded by Member Genovese and passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Next on the agenda was the report of the Executive Director and Ms. Matthews began her report with an update on preparations for the November 8, 2022 General Election. She presented the voting system pre-election testing report and said the Counties of Bond, Cumberland, Franklin, Gallatin, Jasper, Kendall, Warren and Winnebago were selected for testing. The election judge training schedule was presented for informational purposes.
Ms. Matthews presented a request for voting system modification for the Dominion Democracy Suite 5.6-D Engineering Change Order (ECO) contained on pages 87-89 of the board packet. The system previously received a two-year interim approval on November 16, 2021, after a successful testing campaign. The ten ECO's, which are de minimus in nature, were reviewed by the Election Assistance Commission as well as Pro V&V, which is an accredited independent Voting system Test Laboratory (VSTL). Ms. Matthews indicated that staff is requesting a two year interim approval to the system with the ten ECO’s as outlined in the report. Member Terven moved to grant a two year interim approval of the Dominion Democracy Suite 5.6-D ECO, which was seconded by Member Cadigan and passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Ms. Matthews presented a request for voting system modification for the ES&S EVS 5.5.0.3 Engineering Change Order (ECO) contained on page 90 of the board packet. The system previously received a two-year interim approval on March 29, 2022, after a successful testing campaign. The ECO, which was de minimus in nature, was reviewed by the Election Assistance Commission as well as Pro V&V, which is an accredited independent Voting system Test Laboratory (VSTL). Ms. Matthews indicated that staff is requesting a two year interim approval to the system with the ECO as outlined in the report. Member Cadigan moved to grant a two year interim approval of the ES&S EVS 5.5.0.3 ECO, which was seconded by Member Donahue and passed by roll call vote of 8-0.
Ms. Matthews gave an update on the Advisory Committee meeting that was held on September 15 via Zoom and said the meeting recording was distributed to the Board for their information. Topics discussed included an IVRS rewrite project update, accessible vote by mail with reminders that participation in the program was mandatory for the general election and user feedback regarding the new eGrants platform. Ms. Matthews said the majority of discussion that was had related to public record requests and the high volume of FOIA requests received by the jurisdictions. Reminders were given to retain certain election materials related to the 2022 election in response to possible litigation as noticed from various requestors. The next meeting of the Advisory Committee is scheduled for January 2023.
Ms. Matthews presented a status update on the Accessible Vote by Mail (AVBM) program from Jordan Andrew, Deputy General Counsel, which was included in the board packet under separate cover. Ms. Matthews reviewed the memo and noted that an emergency procurement agreement with Democracy Live was executed to implement the Accessible Vote by Mail program for the
2022 General Election. In doing this, the agency has fulfilled its statutory obligations, and the contract will run through November 27, 2022. The AVBM program for the General Election will operate under the same parameters as the 2022 General Primary, which offers election authorities a streamlined, ad hoc approach to electronically transmitting vote by mail ballots to qualified voters with a print disability. Election Authority participation in the program was optional for the General Primary Election, but will be mandatory for the General Election. Ms. Matthews said staff is working on a statewide outreach program engaging with different partnerships, election authorities, and also statewide by distribution of informational materials alerting voters of the AVBM option.
The IVRS rewrite project update was next on the agenda and Dustin Schultz provided an oral report. He said that Gartner has been officially procured for the IVRS research technical consultation and design of the technical documents necessary to replace IVRS. A kickoff meeting is scheduled for September 22, 2022.
Chair Linnabary presented the next item, which was Board discussion regarding outside grant funding in relation to the local election authorities. Ms. Matthews summarized the process for agency oversight for federal grant funding and said that the agency has no authority to oversee private grant funding that is offered to the local election authorities. Board discussion ensued regarding possible legislative remedies and research related to what laws other states have passed regarding this type of funding. The Board directed staff to query the election authorities as to what types and amount of private grant funding they received and then send a letter to the four caucuses related to concerns and potential risks related to the private funding.
The voter registration activity report, staff conference reports, fiscal status reports and two year plan of staff activity for the months of September and October were presented for informational purposes.
Discussion was had on the agency Disaster Recovery Plan and it was noted that an update in executive session will be provided at the October meeting.
Member McCrory moved to recess to executive session to consider pending litigation, which was seconded by Member Donahue and passed by roll call vote of 8-0. See 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(11). The meeting recessed at 12:10 p.m. and reconvened at 12:20 p.m. with the same Board attendance as noted in the initial roll call.
With there being no further business before the Board, Member Donahue moved to adjourn until Tuesday, October 18, 2022. Member McCrory seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. The meeting ended at 12:20 p.m.
https://www.elections.il.gov/AboutTheBoard/MeetingMinutes.aspx?MID=8HKWm16HSC8%3d&T=638024003669485894
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