By: Diane Benjamin

Unaccountable bureaucrats continue to abuse power. Bloomington Election Commission continues to make their own rules.

The unelected Commission held a petition challenge on a National Holiday, Veterans Day:

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They didn’t issue a press release, the notice is just hidden on their website under About Us, then Meetings: https://bloomingtonelectionsil.gov/

The challenge was to ATTORNEY Jenna Kearns petitions.

See number 5. above. To date there is no WRITTEN DECISION. One would assume it would be posted on the BEC website, if transparency matters.

What’s wrong with her petitions? From the State Board of Elections handbook: https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/27835/2025-Candidates-Guide

1. PDF Page 22: The petition signature sheets must be neatly fastened together in book form at one edge in a secure and suitable manner (paperclips, clipboards, etc., are not secure ways to fasten petitions and those bound in this manner will not be accepted by the State Board of Elections) Jenna used a clip.
2. PDF page 22. The headings on any particular page must be completed prior to the circulation of that petition sheet and the heading on each sheet shall be the same. Jenna’s are NOT the “same”. Some pages have handwritten changes, BEC took her word for it the changes were made before anyone signed. I also heard the Board researched what “same” means.
3. PDF page 16 shows the Notary also signed the petition. She should lose her Commission for that one.

Those are just a few items I see. Very sloppy for a person wanting your vote and even worse since she’s a lawyer. A copy of the challenge isn’t on the website either so I don’t know what was filed, there could have been more problems.

I’m told the 3 person Commission met for many hours before deciding to leave Kearns on the ballot. They and Kearns are an embarrassment to the City of Bloomington. None of the Commissioners can be voted out of office:

Terry Luce, John Walther, Denise Williams

Obviously BEC wants to operate with no accountability and no transparency. County taxpayers are forced to pay for their ineptness. Only Bloomington can dump them, but start with Kearns.