By: Diane Benjamin
Citizens of Normal should find out today if the Town of Normal is required to elect offices stated in the law for Incorporated Towns or if they get a pass.
3 people filed petitions for the offices of Supervisor, Clerk, and Collector. All three are listed as SHALL be elected in Illinois code for Incorporated Towns.
Normal has known this since they fought to be declared an Incorporated Town last year. Koos and company created this situation because they didn’t want Trustees elected by District. They are paying outside counsel with your tax dollars to NOT comply.
Send the Town a thank you card for using your tax dollars!
You can attend the hearing in person in Courtroom 5D or by Zoom: Find Judge Fellheimers link here: https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/1422/Remote-Hearings
Less than 40% of Normal staff even live in Normal. It is pathetic that administrators who don’t even live in Normal are spending Normal residents’ tax dollars to keep Normal residents from running for and holding elected office in their own TOWN!
Election Commissions, Election Judging, ballot controls, voter ID laws, voter registration, ballot harvesting. All of these references to the single most critical yet by virtue of corruption and lack of integrity in society today, are controversial in Americas elections. The worst among us, in our Constitutional Republic will try to control those that count the vote and manipulate the laws, change the laws, and modify laws to favor one party; Morals, ethics, God, Justice and their neighbors be damned.
Speaking of which, the various Election “Authorities”, in our case. I propose that if you are on the election commission then you should not be allowed to hold any other elected office. Like competing to build two houses of wood and your opponent gives out the permits.
Is it me or is it impossible to find any information about the Normal Election Board, Commission, or Committee? Is it the Mayors committee? It’s not listed under the Normal Municipal codes “Boards and Committees” section.
Also, the McLean County election commission webpage is not very informative about “Who” is on the “Election Commission or Board”. When it meets, where, etc. The webpage has a message saying, “ The Election Team is here to Help. Contact us.” With a link to a contact page for your questions. I want to see a listing of the board. Not just the clerks office.
Bloomingtons Election Commission just says to call or email for info and various links about the history of the commission, previous elections, hiring process, how to become an election judge and some information about upcoming election dates, and various other information. But no listing of board members that I can find. Transparency?
Maybe it’s my eyesight or poor search skills. But the only references that come up when searching for “Normal Election Commission, Board, Committee” are various media articles in which the committee has been mentioned.
Normal disbanded without a vote
Various election boards are defined by state statute (unless there are Home Rule exceptions). I remember specs for Normal – Mayor, Town Clerk, and most senior Council Member. Alternate is next most senior. Ties for seniority are broken randomly. IIRC, County is very similar.
As we’ve seen in recent Normal court cases, Home Rule potentially throws the rules out the window. As best I can tell, the Normal Council could literally vote to legalize murder and that ordinance would hold up in court.
There’e so much going on all over the place in regards to counting but most importantly managing the votes that honest and fair elections cannot be honest and fair. Not any more. Not until real transparency exists and guilty parties face jail time.