McHenry Times

McHenry County issued the following announcement on July 8.

SB1863 Passes

Public Acts 101-641 and 101-642 were signed into law on June 16, 2020, to protect the health and safety of Illinois voters during the 2020 General Election. The provisions in this legislation only apply to the 2020 General Election and will be repealed automatically on January 1, 2021.

The following are highlights from the legislation, including excerpts from documents from the State Board of Elections (SBE) and the legislation itself as they are applied to our County. Some of what follows may be subject to change as events develop.

SCHOOLS AND LOCAL UNITS OF GOVERNMENT

Establishment of 2020 General Election as a Holiday

November 3, 2020, is a holiday for schools, state universities, and all government offices with the exception of election authorities. All of these offices shall be closed on Election Day, except in the event that they are utilized as a polling place. (10 ILCS 5/2B-10, 30 ILCS 500/15-45, 110 ILCS 70/45(a)).

Use of Schools as a Polling Place

Schools must be made available to election authorities to serve as polling places. The election authority and the school must comply with all safety and health practices established by the Illinois Department of Public Health. The election authority is eligible for reimbursement of reasonable cleaning expenses, subject to the availability of funds. (10 ILCS 5/2B-10)

Tentatively, it appears that the County will be utilizing at least one school in the upcoming election.

APPLICATIONS FOR VOTE BY MAIL BALLOTS

Period to Apply

Voters can submit applications for a vote by mail (VBM) ballot beginning on June 16, 2020, (effective date of P.A. 642). The standard period for the voter to submit applications (90 days before the election) is expanded only for the 2020 General Election. (10 ILCS 5/2B-15(a)) These applications can be submitted until October 29, 2020, if requesting a ballot by mail, or until November 2, 2020, if requesting the VBM ballot in person. (10 ILCS 5/19-2, 20-13).

Method for Applying

For the first time, in 2020 an application for a VBM ballot can be submitted by email, as well as by mail, in person delivery, or electronically through the website of the election authority. The website address for the applications must be fixed no later than the effective date of this legislation, June 16, 2020. (10 ILCS 5/2B-15(a))

McHenry County has implemented an online application located at: https://www.mchenrycountyil.gov/vbm

We have been receiving applications via this channel and it seems to be working well.

Applications to be Sent to Voters

An election authority must mail or email an application for a VBM ballot to any voter who voted either in the 2018 General Election (November 2018), the 2019 Consolidated Election (April 2019), or the 2020 General Primary Election (March 2020).

As it is fairly common knowledge that some voters only vote in Presidential elections, and it would seem unreasonable to exclude voters from the most recent Presidential election, it is the intention of the McHenry County Clerk to also send applications to any voter who voted in the 2016 General Election (November 2018).

Applications shall be sent by August 1, 2020 to all voters who voted in these elections, regardless of if they voted early, by mail, or in person. (10 ILCS 5/2B-15(b))

Additionally, an election authority shall mail an application to any person who registered to vote, or changed their address, between March 18, 2020, and July 31, 2020. (10 ILCS 5/2B-15(b))

Applications shall be mailed to voters at their registered address, and any other mailing address the election authority may have on file, including a mailing address to which a prior VBM ballot was mailed. (10 ILCS 5/2B-15(d))

We have engaged a vendor, via RFP to print and mail the bulk of our applications and ballots

IN-PERSON VOTING

Central Vote Center on Election Day

Election authorities shall establish one location where all voters in the jurisdiction, regardless of the precinct they are registered in, are allowed to vote on Election Day during polling place hours. This location should be located at either the office of the election authority or a separate location in the largest municipality of the jurisdiction. Location TBD.

In the March election, we moved four of our polling places from congregate senior living centers to other locations. We are currently working to find new homes for these locations for the upcoming election.

Health Precautions

Election authorities shall comply with any early voting and Election Day safety and health practices established in written guidance provided by the Illinois Department of Public Health. (10 ILCS 5/2B-35(a)).

IDPH has yet to provide election-specific guidelines. In the meantime, we have been working in anticipation of guidelines that are similar to those currently in place. We have just over 300 gallons of hand sanitizer scheduled for delivery in September. However, we are hesitant to arrange purchased of anything else in the way of PPE and/or workplace materials as we simply are unsure of what might be specified.

National Guard Assistance

The Clerk’s office has requested assistance from the National Guard for Election Day. We are awaiting word as to whether our request will be honored.

OTHER VOTE BY MAIL TOPICS

Ballot collection sites (Drop boxes)

We have determined that there will be one drop box for the upcoming election. In keeping with recently published guidelines and best practices, it will likely be placed in the parking lot.

The design will be substantially similar to the model below:

Ballot Tracking

For the upcoming election, we have selected BallotTrax as our vendor for ballot tracking and status notification. This solution will give voters more information than ever before about the location and status of their ballot. They will also have the opportunity to enroll in notification by text message, email or phone call as the status and location of their ballot changes.

The system also gives the Clerk’s office a number of tools to better understand the movement of the ballots at a high level.

Ballot Processing

We have selected Runbeck’s Agilis ballot sorter/imager/opener solution to help facilitate the processing of ballots. The device will weigh, measure, scan, open and catalog incoming ballots certification envelopes. The data from the scan will be ported to our Election Management system which will facilitate signature verification and remediation of disqualified signatures. The cataloging function will allow us to retrieve a particular ballot envelope in circumstances where the signature may be questioned.

Federal CARES Act Grant and Postage Grants

McHenry County has received two grant awards. The first is the CARES Act grant in the amount of $393.623.50 to help defray some of the costs associated with measures taken as a result of COVID in the November election.

The second grant is intended to offset the cost of postage and is provided by the State. We were awarded $138,897.75 through this grant.

Original source can be found here.

Source: McHenry County