Post-election statement from Sally J. Turner, Logan County Clerk and Recorder

[November 07, 2014]  LINCOLN - “The November 4, 2014 General Election went very smoothly” commented Sally J. Turner who was just elected to her 6th term in office. “A big thank you to the election judges, polling place superintendents, Logan County Highway Department, Logan County Maintenance, and various township officials for helping put together a great Election Day.

We had over 44% voter turnout with over 1,000 Early, Grace, Absentee and Provisional Votes in our office.” Grace period voting was not new to the office but the extension by the legislature to the Monday as well as Election Day of this act was new. “We have 51 Grace Provisional Votes that will be reviewed by the canvass date of November 18. Our office will first send out a voter registration card to the new registrant to assure us that they live where they indicate they live”, the Clerk said. There are also several absentee ballots outstanding that will be processed by the canvass date if postmarked by November 3 and received by the canvass date.

Turner also commented on the various “Voter History Report Cards” that we have floating around the county stating a voter’s history. “Absolutely none of the information on the cards came from our office. It all comes from the State Board of Elections in Springfield which stores election and voter data. It is a “Get-out-the-vote effort by civic organizations and we encourage anyone that received one of these flyers to contact their state representatives to ask that these groups stop this type of campaigning”. Turner stated that this type of effort is all over the United States and does not come from the local levels.
 

After the canvass on November 18th, the Clerk’s office will immediately be looking to run another election. County Clerk Sally J. Turner stated that Public Act 98-691 has changed the process of filing for all school district board positions in Illinois for the upcoming Consolidated General Election April 7, 2015. Previously, all filings for the office of school board members took place at the local school district acting as the Local Election Official, then certified to the Office of the County Clerk as the Election Authority for placement on the ballot. The new Public Act requires that all filings for school district offices will be in the Office of the County Clerk.

Nomination petitions and required forms are now available at the Office of the County Clerk as well as on line at the Clerk’s website www.co.
logan.il.us/county_clerk.  The filing period in the Office of the County Clerk is December 15th to December 22nd, 2014 from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. While some school districts in Logan County may also choose to provide the necessary paperwork for these offices, all filings must now take place at the County Clerk’s Office in order to be certified for the April 7th, 2015 ballot during the filing period.

Any potential candidate should contact the County Clerk’s Office to ascertain which district format their school elects board members, and from which areas in the district candidates may be elected. Some school districts may also choose to provide this information at the district office.

The phone number for the Elections Department at the County Clerk’s Office is [phone] or email [e-mail].

[Sally J. Turner, Logan County Clerk and Recorder]