DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — The usual sights and sounds of election season may not be here come November 3.
For those handling the logistics of a massive presidential election, like Macon County Clerk Josh Tanner, COVID-19 has added a new wrinkle to election preparations.
"This time, I assume there will be more people who don't want to come out on Election Day," Tanner said.
The virus caused headaches during Illinois' March primary. Now it is threatening the usual process in November too.
"What we also need to be prepared for is... a likely resurgence in the fall," said State Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich. "[That] could fall around November 3."
The way the law stands now, voters can cast their ballots through the mail. To do so, they would need to fill out an application for a mail-in ballot from their local election authority.
"We'll make sure they're a registered voter," Tanner said. "There will be a written application for the ballot. We'll compare their signature and make sure they are who they say they are."
But this process requires counties to pick up the tab for postage to send the ballot to a voter — voters would then pay to send the ballot back in once completed. If done on a massive scale, clerks worry this process would make the coronavirus related financial struggles of some counties even worse.
"We'll have to bring in more part-time people to process those ballots," Tanner said. "If [state lawmakers] were to pass a law that required us to send them to every registered voter in Macon County, you're looking at $250,000. That'd be a dramatic bill. We're already in a deficit situation."
Sen. Julie Morrison (D - Lake Forest) is leading the state senate's push for mail-in voting. She wants every registered voter to receive a mail-in ballot this fall, even if it costs the state another $38.8 million.
"The state realizes we can't expect counties and the 108 election authorities to come up with that money," Morrison said. "There's going to be an increased number of applications across the state. Rather than have county clerks unprepared for the huge number of mail in ballots and applications, I think it would be better for them to have a uniform system across the state."
But not everyone is on board. House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R - Western Springs) argues this is an unnecessary move that puts more stress on the state's already strained finances.
"The money isn't there," Durkin said. "The money isn't going to come out of Springfield. $38 million to some people may be a couple pennies, but it is a lot of money. We just don't have that money to fund that program — a program that doesn't make sense either."
The power to change the current system lies in Springfield — or rather, the remote locations lawmakers are negotiating this major vote-by-mail effort. At some point, they will need to come back to Springfield, either to vote on this bill or to change the rules to allow them to vote remotely.
