 Illinois Statehouse News contacted each of the 110 local election
offices in the state and found many that sent out ballots after the
Sept. 18 deadline for soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen who are
serving overseas. Twenty-one counties missed the deadline, while 87
mailed out ballots on time. Two counties, Marion and Will, did not
return the calls.The majority of counties that did not get
overseas ballots into the mail on time are smaller, rural counties.
Kane and St. Clair counties are two of the larger counties that did
not meet the deadline.
But local election officials insist that no one is being
disenfranchised. Carla Hoelsch, chief deputy clerk for Clinton
County, said the 30 or so ballots she sent out just after the
September deadline will be counted.
"I am a big supporter of the military -- my son-in-law is
deployed for the second time in Afghanistan. I would lean toward
busting my behind to do anything we can for the military. But ...
it's been done and we got them out within four days of the
deadline."
Over in Edgar County, County Clerk Becky Kraemer said she had
three military ballots on her desk before Sept. 18 but waited until
Sept. 21 to send them to voters because of a pending ballot
challenge from the Constitution Party.
"I am extremely sorry that I did not hit that deadline," she
said. "We would have mailed (the ballots) out on the 17th had this
court case not been looming and (we were) uncertain about
everything."
Kraemer adds that she, and a lot of other election officials,
feared a court ruling that would require more ballots or more
last-minute changes.
Massac County received two military absentee ballot requests and
two overseas citizen ballot requests before Sept. 18.
But Massac County Clerk John "Bubba" Taylor said the county did
not fulfill those requests until Oct. 8.
"We're a very poor county. It's 30 cents a ballot. It doesn't
sound like much, but when you're printing 11,000 ballots, it really
adds up," he said.
Taylor said he understood there were concerns about counties
missing the federal deadline for fulfilling ballot requests.
"But until you have ballots and have them proofed, you can't send
them to people," he said.
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That lack of guidance from the court is a common complaint from
counties. Kraemer, from Edgar County, said she had to choose between
the federal deadline and the state court.
"The courts don't always look at deadlines for election
authorities. We're at their mercy to expeditiously take care of
election questions."
Kraemer said she knew that even if she missed the September
deadline, those voters would still have their ballots counted.
In fact nearly every election office in the state has sent
military and overseas ballots since the deadline. Ballots will
continue to be sent to military members until Oct. 22 and to
overseas civilians until Oct. 28.
Bureau County Clerk Kami Hieronymus adds that she will wait until
Nov. 16 to count all the ballots.
"It's the same process as it would be for any registered voter.
As long as they get their ballot in the mail and postmarked the day
before the election, then we wait for that mail to come in. We have
14 days after the election to count all of the absentee and military
ballots that are returned to us."
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By BENJAMIN YOUNT]
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