Illinois State Board of Elections

D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 6 N e w s l e t t e r

State Board of Elections Members Charles W. Scholz Chairman Ernest L. Gowen Vice Chairman William J. Cadigan Andrew Carruthers Betty J. Coffrin John R. Keith William M. McGuffage Casandra B. Watson Steven S. Sandvoss Executive Director James Tenuto Assistant Executive Director

This year Illinois showed a major increase in voter registrations prior to the November election, some in part due to the Illinois Paperless Online Voter Application System (POVA). Facebook and Google launched their National Voter Registration Day activities on the Friday and Monday before National Voter Registration Day which impacted voter registration in most states. The POVA System proved very beneficial to voters again this election cycle. With the new requirement that it remain open until the 16

th day before the

election, over 111,000 people applied through POVA, after the regular close of registration. The Illinois Voter Registration System showed a record number of 8,034,621 registered voters as of the General Election on November 8, 2016.

The State Board of Elections designed a temporary home page for its public website that featured several items of interest pertaining to Election Day; i.e., ‘Am I Registered?’ and ‘Where Do I Vote?’. For the period beginning 6 p.m. on November 7

(election eve) to

9 a.m. November 9 (day after the election) the ‘Am I Registered?’ section saw nearly 199,000 visitors with 3.4 million hits. Visitors to the temporary homepage for this same period totaled 412,000 with over 9.2 million hits.

From the Desk of Steve Sandvoss, Executive Director

ELECTION HIGHLIGHTS

This has been quite a year for the State as a whole and for the SBE in particular. We are in the second year of the budget stalemate and although we received a small amount of operating funds, we are hoping for a resolution soon so that our mandates and other expenses can be properly funded. The November election was certainly the main event of the year, drawing national (and even international) attention. Despite the contentious nature of many of the races, along with fears of a cyberattack, Election Day itself went relatively smooth, for which we in the election administration

community are very grateful. Speaking of cyberattacks, the SBE became a victim when an unauthorized intrusion occurred over the summer. Though approximately 86,000 records were improperly accessed, there was no evidence that any information was tampered with or deleted. The SBE sent out mailings to all known voters whose information was or likely was exposed giving them information as to the extent of the intrusion and phone numbers to call if they believed their identity was in jeopardy. Looking ahead, we are anticipating the introduction of a revised automatic voter registration bill based on one that was proposed earlier this year, as well as a new session of the General Assembly that we hope will be productive to the benefit of all Illinois citizens.

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2017 ELECTIONS

Consolidated Primary Election — February 28, 2017

Consolidated Election — April 4, 2017

Visit our website for the 2017 Election and Campaign Finance Calendar which contains

information regarding both elections:

http://www.elections.il.gov/DocDisplay.aspx?Doc=Downloads/ElectionInformation/

PDF/2017ElectionCalendar.pdf

All newsletters are available at http://www.elections.il.gov/BoardInformation.aspx

Questions about the newsletter: bglazier@elections.il.gov

At a time when the national spotlight was so focused

on voting systems this past election, one reassuring

thought to Illinois voters is that prior to a voting

system reaching them, it must first be approved by

the State Board of Elections. What many voters do

not know is what transpires before the Board is able

to approve a voting system.

Voting and Registration Systems, a division of the

State Board of Elections, conducts exhaustive

certification of all voting systems and election

programs prior to recommending them for Board

Approval. Staff creates three elections; a General,

General Primary and a Consolidated mock election

with hand marked ballots and predetermined

results. Looking back over the last twenty years of

testing equipment, we approximate the staff has run

a total of 3,200,563 hand marked ballots and a total

of 251,013,324 ballot positions tested through the

voting systems used in Illinois currently.

So, when a voter goes to cast a ballot on any voting

system in Illinois, they can rest assured, that their

voting system was held up to the highest standards

before ever reaching them.

Four of the Best of Christmas Movie Quotes—Which Movie?

1. Look, Daddy. Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.

2. No! No! I want an official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!

3. Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.

4. Blast this Christmas music. It’s joyful and triumphant.

Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia require electors to be legally committed to who they are pledged. Illinois electors are not legally committed to cast their votes to who they are pledged. The renegade elector, also called a “faithless elector” is rare.

In addition, on three occasions the candidate with the lesser popular vote won a majority in the Electoral College (in 1876 - Hayes vs. Tilden, in 1888 - Cleveland vs. Harrison, and in 2000 – Bush vs. Gore). Electors will meet December 19 at the Illinois Secretary of State office to cast their votes. The Secretary of State then forwards the electoral votes which will be opened and tallied by the President of the Senate on January 6, 2017 before a joint session of Congress.

ELECTORAL COLLEGE

VOTING SYSTEMS — CERTIFICATION

State Board of Elections employee, Kalpana Krishnamurthi, who has worked in our Information Technology division for 11 years, became a naturalized citizen on October 7, 2016. County Clerk Don Gray registered Kalpana in our Springfield office.

EMPLOYEE NEWS

ELECTION JUDGES SCHOOLS

Current publications for the 2017 elections that are available on the website include the Candidate’s Guide, Election and Campaign Finance Calendar, Local Election Officials Handbook and Township Caucus Guide. Other publications available are the Military and Overseas Voters Guidelines; Directory of Officials for County Officers, State and Federal Officers; Judicial Officers; and State of Illinois Party Officials.

The Interactive GIS map is available at http://www.elections.il.gov/DistrictLocator/DistrictOfficialSearchByAddress.aspx

This District Locator is available in the desktop version as well as a mobile version.

Also available on the website are vote totals from past elections, 13 different election related pamphlets, 21 campaign disclosure publications, BEREP rules and regulations, and campaign disclosure forms.

These publications can be found at http://www.elections.il.gov/Publications.aspx

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SBE PUBLICATIONS

The Division of Election Operations conducted 133

judge’s schools for the 2016 General Election with

6,415 in attendance for those schools.

The Division is taking requests now for the 2017

election judge schools. Contact Brent Davis at

bdavis@elections.il.gov for further information.

2016 RETIREMENTS

Illinois State Board of Elections 2329 S. MacArthur Boulevard www.elections.il.gov 100 W. Randolph, Suite 14-100

Springfield, IL 62704 Chicago, IL 60601

Rick Fulle, Division of Voting and Registration Systems, retired on September 30 with more than 41 years of

service with the Board.

Vera Bolden, Division of Election Operations, retired on November 30 after 13 years with the Board.

Becky Glazier, Office of the Executive Director, retires December 30 with more than 32 years at the Board.

2016 STAFF ANNIVERSARIES

ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

Visit the Election Assistance Commission website at

www.eac.gov. You will find Quick Start Guides (quick

tips for election officials), Poll worker best practices, an

election official exchange, voting accessibility, election

resource library, and various voters guides. You can

also sign up to receive weekly updates from the EAC.

Follow the EAC on Twitter @EAC.gov for news and

more about elections.

Answers to Christmas Quotes

1. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

2. A Christmas Story (1983)

3. Polar Express (2004)

4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Staff celebrating anniversaries with the Board this year are: Kevin Turner, Information Technology, 30

years; Bruce Brown, Voting and Registration Systems, 20 years.; Gary Nerone, Election Operations; Kim

Patrick, Campaign Disclosure; and Kyle Thomas, Voting and Registration Services all 15 years of service.

This will be my last newsletter as I will be retiring December 30, 2016 after 36 years with the State of Illinois—almost 33 of them with the Board of Elections. As the editor of the newsletter for quite a few years I want to thank staff for their contributions to the many newsletters we have distributed. After working with all four Executive Directors, a great number of Board members, scores of SBE employees and election authorities, and so many others in the election industry outside of Illinois, it is hard to say goodbye to friends and to a job I have truly enjoyed. Elections are truly a team effort! Thank you all for your friendship and your hard work in ensuring the integrity of our most sacred democratic institution; elections. Happy Holidays to you all! May our paths cross again some day!