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Voter Fraud Alert!
ILGOP Handing Out Voter Fraud Alert Fliers in DuPage County

WATCH: Video of Electronic Voting Machine “Glitch”

The Illinois Republican Party has learned of potential voter fraud in DuPage County that has been occurring for more than a week.

Several voters have reported that while reading the questions on the screen of the electronic voting machines at early voting locations in DuPage County, after 10 seconds, the machine will automatically highlight Mike Madigan endorsed candidates and the Tax Hike Amendment in red.

“This is an outrageous abuse of our voting system and must be quickly remedied. Speaker Madigan and the Democrats will stop at nothing to enact higher taxes on our middle class families and retirees,” said Tim Schneider, ILGOP Chairman. “Illinois GOP volunteers will be handing out fliers in DuPage County to voters alerting them of this clear abuse of our election system.”

“This serious issue needs to be immediately corrected before it further impacts the election. We continue to see more and more proof as to just how far Democrats are willing to go to rig this election,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin.

* Video…

* Tweet…

Good grief. This is happening on every voting touch screen in DuPage County. They highlight vote yes for the tax hike and EVERY Madigan backed candidate. Litigation forthcoming. https://t.co/Xq6wDAZRAi

— Grant Wehrli (@GrantWehrli) October 24, 2020

* And they’re handing out this flier…

* As it turns out, the DuPage County GOP knew about this. I discovered that when I did what the ILGOP should’ve done if they actually cared and checked with the DuPage County Clerk’s office…

Rich,

DuPage County’s touchscreen voting machines, in compliance with the voter access requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, utilize a text-highlighting feature to assist impaired voters. The text-highlighting feature in question has been consistently utilized throughout the life of the county’s voting system. An audio track reads the ballot questions and available selections while the accompanying text is highlighted in red. Headphones and a touchpad are provided for any voters who choose to utilize the audio track. The text of the first question and candidate name on each page are read to the voter, and the accompanying text is highlighted. Voters utilizing the assistance keypad can then cycle through the selections for each race, which are read over the headphones while the accompanying text is highlighted in red. Voters who choose not to utilize the assistance keypad can proceed directly to marking their choices, at which point the highlighted text follows their most recent selection.

In response to concerns raised by the DuPage Republican Party, on the morning of Friday, October 23, senior staff from the DuPage County Clerk’s Office met with members of the DuPage GOP leadership for a demonstration and explanation of the text-highlighting feature and its necessity to comply with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act within the technological constraints of DuPage County’s fifteen-year-old voting system. The system utilized by DuPage County is state-certified and functioned in an identical manner in the 2020 General Primary, and our office is unaware of any concerns raised at that time by parties, candidates, or voters.

Stickers have been placed on every voting machine at the Early Voting sites explaining in both English and Spanish that the text-highlighting feature is for impaired voter assistance only and that highlighted selections can by cycled through utilizing the provided keypad, as well as reminding voters to review all ballot selections to ensure accuracy before casting their vote.

Regards,

Adam Johnson
Chief Deputy Clerk
DuPage County Clerk

Also, as the Illinois State Board of Elections’ spokesman points out, “Democrats are listed first because they won the post-primary lottery for ballot placement.”

But, you know, “Madigan and the ADA-compliant Diebold machines he controls,” or something.

*** UPDATE 1 *** The Illinois GOP suggested some questions for the DuPage County Clerk, so I passed them along…

Rich,

In response to the follow-up questions you passed along from the ILGOP:

“1) If this is for ADA, why is this the only jurisdiction in the state complying with ADA? Is everyone else failing their constituents and flouting the law?”

I can’t speak for the ADA compliance practices of other jurisdictions. I do know that most other counties have implemented new voting systems in the fifteen years since DuPage County purchased the machines our office inherited upon taking over election administration last year. The newer systems have more robust and flexible options for meeting ADA requirements. The DuPage County Clerk would certainly welcome assistance in advocating for a county as large and affluent as DuPage to make the investment required to upgrade to a state of the art voting system rather than doing the best we can with last-generation equipment.

“2) Again, if this is for ADA, why is this the first year they have decided to “comply” with the law? Have they been breaking the law up until this point?”

Again, I can’t speak for DuPage County’s previous ADA compliance practices, since elections have only been under the oversight of the County Clerk’s Office since last year, when the Republican majority on the County Board voted on a party-line basis to dissolve the Election Commission immediately during the middle of the ongoing spring consolidated election rather than implement the phased transition plan our office requested. Apparently, the Republican County Board members were so concerned with the quality of election administration in DuPage County that they believed there was not a single day to spare before bringing Clerk Kaczmarek in to start cleaning up the mess.

Regards,

Adam Johnson
Chief Deputy Clerk
DuPage County Clerk

*** UPDATE 2 *** ILGOP…

Following calls by voters and Republican Party officials, DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek is acknowledging an issue with DuPage County voting machines and has committed to several remedial measures requested by the ILGOP and others.

Several voters reported that while reading the questions on the screen of the electronic voting machines at early voting locations in DuPage County, after 10 seconds, the machine would automatically highlight the candidate or question that occupied the first ballot position, which this year are the Democratic Party candidates. The technical issue is related to how the County’s voting machines comply with the ADA.

“While all counties must adhere to ADA requirements while conducting their elections, we have not seen this occur in any other county in the State, where a candidate’s name would be automatically highlighted, as they were in DuPage,” said ILGOP Chairman Tim Schneider. “We brought these issues to the Clerk and appreciate the Clerk’s office taking these issues seriously.”

The DuPage County Clerk has committed to place signage at each Early Voting site, to provide a hand out to each voter, and to place explanatory signage on each electronic voting machine used in Early Voting in DuPage County. While a technological fix is unavailable during the Early Voting period, the Clerk has committed to investigate whether a technological fix may address the issue for Election Day voting.

Said Schneider, “We appreciate the Clerk taking these remedial measures to help avoid any voter confusion on these machines. It is obviously of the utmost importance that all voters have the chance to make an informed choice at the polls.”

*** UPDATE 3 *** Adam Johnson at the DuPage County Clerk’s office just called to say that the clerk’s office did not sign off on the statement in the ILGOP release above. That was a draft, but the clerk’s office said it couldn’t agree to that language and they were working on agreed language when the Republican press release popped. “That’s not a statement from us,” Johnson said. “That’s nothing that we signed off on at all.”