Lake County election law repeal moves forward
Tuesday, Nov 5, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Daily Herald…
As Lake County officials await a judicial ruling that could decide who runs local elections in 2014 and beyond, County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor on Tuesday will tell state lawmakers why he opposes the creation of a special commission for that task.
Lawlor is set to testify at 10 a.m. before the House Executive Committee in Springfield. The panel is reviewing a bill that would remove a controversial section from a recently adopted election law that sought to create an election commission in Lake County — and nowhere else.
The Lake County Clerk’s office now oversees elections, voter registration and related programs. County Clerk Willard Helander and various county and state officials from both political parties decried the proposal this summer but couldn’t stop its passage.
Critics say the law illegally singles out Lake County and takes away voters’ rights to choose whom they want to run their elections. Although the legislation doesn’t mention Lake County by name, it describes affected counties by population and geography in such a way that it can only apply to Lake.
Nobody has taken “credit” for the section of the bill passed earlier this year dealing with Lake County. It’s been a strange process, for sure.
The bill to repeal the clause is here. It passed committee today 11-0.
- dupage dan - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:54 am:
Nobody knows nuttin bout nobody. Should be the new motto for Illinois. (snark)
- LincolnLounger - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 12:00 pm:
Repeal it? Then all of Terry Link’s work will have been for nothing.
I’m guessing the fix is in letting it die in the House.
- Elo Kiddies - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 12:27 pm:
Didn’t Willard announce her retirement? That may go a long way.
- reformer - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 1:41 pm:
If having elections run by a partisan elected official is preferable to a bipartisan commission, then let’s abolish the commissions in DuPage and Chicago.
- Adam Smith - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 2:04 pm:
Link is such a weasel. He pushed this single-handedly and then blatantly lies to everyone claiming he didn’t even know about it.
What a crock. Everyone who knows anything about legislation knows that this language would never have been in the bill without the OK of the county’s Dem party chairman.
Whether it’s a good idea or not may be debatable but for Link to try and hide from the fact that he pushed and to refuse to explain why he did so is simply dishonest.