More reason to abolish BEC

By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Election Commission has a long history of failing at their one job: Elections. Just in November they couldn’t tell candidates for Bloomington Council how many signatures they needed on petitions because of redistricting. In 2022 BEC requested and increase to their budget of $550,000. BEC has had a hard time […]

Bloomington tonight

By: Diane Benjamin Will someone ask Bloomington why they had 904 employees in mid December? https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/28863/638084456490870000 Bloomington ended the year with 820 employees, still way over the previous numbers! COUNTY taxpayers are forced to fund the Bloomington Election Commission while having no oversight! This is taxation without representation because BEC doesn’t answer to anyone. Green […]

Fly on the wall: BEC

I heard the Bloomington Election Commission can’t tell candidates in revised wards how many signatures they need to run! I also hear candidates are told to consult a lawyer – sure, for a job that pays $2,300 a year. Brilliant. (You have ONE job) I wonder if they know the law?  (10 ILCS 5/29-4) (from Ch. […]

Try again to abolish BEC

By: Diane Benjamin Only slightly over 60% of registered voters in McLean County bothered to vote. (35,980 out of 59,448) Evidently 40 year high inflation and Pritzker tax increases weren’t enough pain for the other 40% I can’t tell you how many registered voters in Bloomington bothered to show up. Not only did it take […]

Bloomington Tonight

By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument/28152/637939229937530000 If using accumulated sick time to spike a pension was eliminated, what is this? This is spiking pension(s). Why the Bloomington Election Commission needs eliminated, the elected County Clerk should run all elections instead of unelected bureaucrats: Packet: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/5a20b9c4-a62d-11ec-8a90-0050569183fa-36dc0a47-f3e1-4a7f-ab53-55227cac04fe-1658440789.pdf PDF page 95: Looks like a Public Hearing on […]

Early Voting Starts today

By: Diane Benjamin Voting 6 weeks before the actual election date is merely a ploy to bank votes from uniformed voters. Do not vote now, the ballots aren’t even available yet to preview before you vote. The ballots were likely delayed by petition challenges. Only those who want to be uniformed vote before campaigning even […]

Bloomington Election Commission Must GO

By: Diane Benjamin I recently filed a FOIA request with the Bloomington Election Commission. In case you missed this story, the COUNTY pays the bills for Bloomington’s Election Commission: Bloomington Proved BEC is a WASTE of Money   The only thing this office does is elections. There might be three elections this year, there might […]

Bloomington pushed BEC out of the Government Center

By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Election Commission got their space in the Government Center downgraded when Bloomington offices moved in. Now they got pushed out so Bloomington’s Legal Department can move in. BEC (which shouldn’t exist because it duplicates the services of the County Clerk) is moving to the building next door: https://www.instantstreetview.com/@40.479618,-88.993312,178h,-2.59p,0z,wpb1CabIaO1Ad8groyQ-XQ The address […]

Since eliminating BEC isn’t on the ballot:

The below was sent by the local GOP, Democrats likely sent it out too. People who demand the law be followed are needed, BEC needs a watchdog. Here is the news release from the BEC.  DATE: November 24, 2021SUBJECT: Announcing commissioner position vacancy on the City of Bloomington Board of Election Commission The Bloomington Board […]

BEC’s New Director

By: Diane Benjamin It took a long time for the Bloomington Election Commission to name a new Executive Director, the last one quit in May. I’d still like to know why Tim Mitchell quit suddenly and why it took so long to replace him. Did they have trouble finding a qualified applicant? The new Executive […]

Bloomington bills approved tonight

By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument/26488/637588526176300000 Wasn’t Sick Leave Buy Back abolished? Buy local? Not when Amazon can deliver office and cleaning supplies with a mouse click. This is what the City spent in one month: Even administration participated: Remember when the Coliseum was sold as it would pay for itself? https://blnnews.com/2017/01/28/coliseum-who-to-blame/ Hint: It […]

BEC needs abolished now

By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Election Commission need to be abolished now. The Executive Director Tim Mitchell is no longer there – effective today. From all appearances he did not give any notice. An employee said by phone Tim chose to work outside the office, whatever that means. I do know the County is moving […]

Facts immaterial to Carrillo

By: Diane Benjamin On Bloomington’s agenda tonight Jenn Carrillo wants the Council to petition the Federal and State governments to replace Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous People’s Day. https://blnnews.com/2021/01/22/cancel-culture-back-at-bloomington-monday/ Evidently Jenn doesn’t know the entire month of November is Native American People’s month. Maybe she doesn’t know that’s another way of saying Indigenous People’s […]

Bloomignton 1/11/2021 meeting

By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=25694 The cost of buying a page for the financial statements keeps going up. See the page on PDF page 14: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument?id=25360 Why isn’t abolishing the Bloomington Election Commission back on the April ballot? When non-elected officials can’t be held accountable for screwing up elections they need to go. Besides, Bloomington doesn’t […]

BEC Judge Electioneering

By: Diane Benjamin I was informed by a VERY reliable source: Yesterday at the Coliseum a Bloomington Election Commission judge was telling people to vote YES on the Progressive Tax Amendment. That is illegal, the police were called and a report was made. Election officials are not allowed to influence your vote. Meanwhile, Jenn Carrillo […]

Since Bloomington staff won’t just answer a simple question . . .

By: Diane Benjamin It was pretty easy to determine the COUNTY was paying for the Bloomington Election Commission for this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/10/08/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-bloomington-election-commission/ I emailed the Bloomington Finance Director just to verify and didn’t receive a response until yesterday: That is 7 days after I wrote the story! This is the document they sent, you have […]

Update: Nailed it! Early voting suspended in Bloomington

By: Diane Benjamin I think that boat has sailed BEC. If you have a problem with your ballots everybody who has already voted has a problem. How many ballots have you mailed? The specimen ballot on the BEC website does have a problem – two questions are missing: https://www.becvote.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/General-Election-1120.pdf Anyone who has already voted did […]

Voting by Mail? I’m not!

By:  Diane Benjamin Last week the Kathy Michael, McLean County Clerk, and Tim Mitchell, Executive Director of the Bloomington Election Commission, issued a joint Press Release. Note:  If you had voted to abolish BEC when you had the chance there wouldn’t be TWO now!  (No, I’m not letting you forget) You will be getting a […]

Bloomington: 2019 vrs 2020

By:  Diane Benjamin Total Bills and Payroll approved at the first meeting in May of 2019: Total Bills and Payroll for approval Monday: Employees are getting paid as usual, other spending is WAY down. This wouldn’t exist if the Bloomington Election Commission had been abolished FYI Either the fireworks show is going to be a […]

BEC’s version of what happened with the bounced checks

By:  Diane Benjamin The below was sent to the election judges yesterday by the Bloomington Election Commission.  See the original story:  https://blnnews.com/2020/04/07/you-should-have-abolished-the-bloomington-election-commission/ Note how nothing is ever government’s fault, in this case it’s the bank’s fault.  Yes folks, banks accidentally bounce checks all the time. . . . . .  

If California can partner, why can’t Bloomington?

By:  Diane Benjamin Title to a story in a newsletter to all City Managers who are members of ICMA – both Bloomington and Normal are: Santa Barbara Moves to Partner With County for Emergency Dispatch Services https://www.noozhawk.com/article/santa_barbara_moves_to_partner_with_county_for_emergency_dispatch_services Quote: Santa Barbara hopes to save up to two minutes in response time by combining emergency dispatch services […]

Is Bloomington still meeting tonight?

By:  Diane Benjamin If the City Code doesn’t apply to the City, it doesn’t apply to you either. Right? https://blnnews.com/2019/10/13/bloomington-violates-their-own-code/ If they do meet tonight, here’s what’s on the agenda: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1039&Inline=True  The City has already budgeted $100,489.40 for repairs to Oneil Pool.  Tonight they are adding $24,900 for sidewalk repairs around the pool.  This will […]

Another reason to vote YES to abolish BEC

By:  Diane Benjamin This question will be on the ballot for Bloomington voters only: Voting YES abolishes the Bloomington Election Commission and puts elections in the hands of the ELECTED County Clerk. Here’s why voting YES is important: Peoria County is one of the few with an Election Commission.  That Election Commission screwed up the […]

Bloomington: VOTE YES

By:  Diane Benjamin The wording is what is legally required.  If you want to save money by not having two separate offices conduct elections, you must vote YES to abolish the Bloomington Election Commission.  Since all BEC does is elections, what do they do when there aren’t any? Republicans and Libertarians think voters should have […]

The early voting sham starts Thursday

By:  Diane Benjamin The actual election is November 6th, but thanks to the Illinois progressives, voting starts September 27th. Yep, some people can’t get to the polls without over a month of voting. The purpose of early voting is to make sure people vote before any news comes out that might change their mind.  Votes […]

Pantagraph bias

By:  Diane Benjamin Sometimes the biased reporting of the Pantagraph is clear. Gee, they left one word out of the following:    https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/mcbride-to-run-again-for-normal-council/article_2343d2f9-03af-5b94-833c-eb1310ce6228.html Chissell was just elected in March.  I’m betting she was the only person running, but BECVOTE.org doesn’t have the primary election results posted:     http://www.becvote.org/wordpress/electiondatesandoffices/pastresults/ Keep that in mind when Democrats say the […]

No Voter Suppression at ISU

By:  Diane Benjamin A couple of days ago a comment was made on Facebook saying Republicans were trying to suppress the vote at ISU, and that’s why kids had to stand in long lines. The person who made that comment must have not realized the election was a primary.  Suppressing democrat votes does nothing to […]