* Press release…
Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten announced today that ongoing objections to several Presidential Candidates are not anticipated to be resolved by the State Board of Elections in time for ballots to be prepared and voting tabulators to be programmed for the opening of By Mail and Early Voting on February 4, 2016. The ballots and machines will be available no later than February 17, 2016 – the beginning of Grace Period Registration and Voting – by which time most challenges seeking to remove candidates from the ballot should have been decided and final ballot certifications issued by the State Board of Elections.
“It is possible that ballots may be available prior to February 17, and if so, we will notify the media and voters through a release, on our website and social media,” said Hulten. “It’s unfortunate that the compressed filing calendar for Presidential candidates and the circumstances of these objections will likely delay our receiving final certifications from the State Board of Elections and affect the opening of voting statewide. Once final certifications are received, we will move as quickly as possible to finalize ballots, program machines and open for voting.”
Voters attempting to vote early during the period when ballots are unavailable will be offered an application to vote by mail, or the opportunity to vote early when ballots are available.
*** UPDATE *** Maybe not…
Objections were withdrawn Monday to nominating petitions of four presidential candidates in Illinois’ March 15 primaries, leaving three candidates — Republicans Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Democrat Hillary Clinton — who still must overcome ballot access questions.
Those questions might be answered by next week, said Bernadette Harrington, deputy general counsel to the State Board of Elections. Because there are fewer objections to deal with, Harrington said, an earlier-than-expected meeting of members of the state board could be scheduled for next week to rule on the pending objections. Then, the ballot could be certified, which would allow election authorities statewide to print ballots in time for the planned Feb. 4 start of early voting.
“The hope is to have the certification early next week so that it does not impact the start of early voting,” Harrington said.
Sangamon County Clerk Don Gray had issued a news release earlier Monday saying that the start of early voting could be delayed until mid-February because of the many objections to presidential candidacies the state had to resolve. Gray said state elections officials made it clear at a clerks’ conference in Champaign last week that the start of early voting would have to be pushed back.
But Gray said he would now wait for more guidance from the state board.
And…
- Just Observing - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 9:17 am:
Early voting starts too early. It is too short of a time-frame for election authorities, and it increases the costs of campaigns. Who really needs to vote a month before Election Day??
- muon - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 9:25 am:
Voting a few weeks early is fine for general elections. For primaries, especially presidential primaries, there a frequent withdrawals from the race as other states cast their ballots ahead of us. An early voter has no chance to shift the vote to another candidate when their choice drops out before the primary. It is possible that early voting for Schillerstrom before he dropped out cost Dillard the 2010 nomination for governor.
- good ole boy - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 9:33 am:
Under state and federal law election authorities are to mail out ballots to oversea and military voters who have already applied for absentee ballots by january 29th.
Both Democratic and Republican Parties need to change their rules to allow election officials to do their jobs.
- Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 9:39 am:
@good ole boy - despite the delay in SBE certifications, we are prepared to send overseas and military voters a “special write-in” ballot on 1/29 to satisfy Federal Law, and we’ll follow up with final ballots when available. I suspect other Election Authorities will do likewise.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 9:40 am:
Helps Rauner and the GOP in Champaign County?
College students given less time to think about voting may not help turnout.
Then again, we’re talking the Primary here so it just comes down to organizing strong enough at the grass roots / street level to drag pluses when everything is up and running and not sooner which could lead to aggravation.
- justacitizen - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 10:04 am:
Agree with JO that Feb 17 early voting for the Mar 15 election is too early - Feb 4 is definitely too early. Two weeks would make more sense.
- some doofus - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:12 am:
Almost no voter casts a ballot that far ahead of time anyway. Most early voting locations in this state don’t even open till 2 weeks before election day.
- illini - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 4:41 pm:
I found out about this last week when talking to my County Clerk,
There is no difference between Early or Absentee voting, given the confusion with the national ballot and given the fact that that ballots will be certified for up to 30 days after the election. She only told me I could request an absentee ballot for my 94 year old father, but not to expect the ballot until it had been certified by the SBE, and they had time to get it printed.
- Justaworkerbee - Wednesday, Jan 27, 16 @ 11:02 am:
This election (except the 18th Congressional Special Elections held in some jurisdictions last July and September) is the first to fall under new statutory designation of Early Voting beginning 40 days before an election.
In the past, jurisdictions at their own discretion were able to offer “in-person absentee” to voters if their ballots were ready. Now all reference in statute to “absentee” has been changed to “vote by mail” so there truly is no longer Absentee voting in Illinois. This presented the need to change “in-person absentee” to something- the solution designed by the legislators was to start Early Voting at the point when ballots would often, but not always, be ready.
Unfortunately, legislators do not have the experience or knowledge of ballot preparation process. The situation became this complicated because Early Voting start has now become a definite, mandated date 40 days prior to the election rather than the previously defined 15 days prior to election.