Election Day is just over a month away in Illinois, and local election officials are getting ready. The Danville Election Commission held its second class for election judges on Saturday. Sandy Delhaye, Executive Director of the Commission, notes early voting is starting soon….
{AUDIO: ‘’Early voting is starting on May 19th – this Thursday. And as far as we know it’s going to go on. There has been an issue with a candidate on the ballot that was being removed from the ballot, and is now pending litigation. And we are waiting for direction from the State Board of Elections.’’}
{Danville election judges attend training sessions preparing for the June 28th Illinois Primary Election.
Voters who head to the polls on June 28th in Danville will find a new voting machine there….
{AUDIO: ‘’They’re called the Express Vote, and they are taking the place of our old Auto Marks. It is ADA compliant, and it’s touch-screen which we’ve never had before. However, we will still have the paper ballot because we may have some that come in and say ‘I don’t want technology. I don’t understand it.’ And so we’ll say that’s not a problem, but we are going to encourage people to use our new equipment.’’}
The number of election judges is being reduced in Danville…
{AUDIO: ‘’Normally we have 150. But because of the new law that changed we have gone from 5 judges per precinct down to 3 – because that’s what the county had previously. And now the State Board has come in and said we will be able to mirror what the counties do.’’}
But Delhaye adds her office is looking for more judges to work in Danville’s twenty-nine precincts…
{AUDIO: ‘’We are always looking for judges, it appears, because we lost a lot of our judges when COVID hit. There were so many that had the concern even with masks and sanitizer, and all that. And, actually, we’ve lost some voters. And sometimes when the we have the husband that can no longer do it, the wife decides she’s not going to do it. ….So if there’s listeners out there (who want to be a judge) please call our office.’’}
The Vermilion County Clerk’s office handles voting in the precincts which are located outside Danville but within the county.
{In the top photo Danville Election Commission Executive Director Sandy Delhaye addresses election judges who were attending a training session Saturday, May 14, 2022. Sitting on the counter to the right of Delhaye is one of the new Express Vote machines.
