Early voting delayed by ballot dispute

Posted on February 7, 2018
Early voting
Early voting won’t start on time this week as an Illinois Attorney General candidate is appealing a decision that removed their name from the ballot. (WJBC file photo)

By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – An ongoing legal battle has caused a delay in early voting for the spring primary.

Early voting was scheduled to start Thursday, but a dispute over a Democratic candidate’s eligibility to be on the ballot in the Illinois Attorney General’s race has caused the delay. In a joint statement issued by McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael and the Bloomington Election Commission Director Paul Shannon, election authorities expect ballots will be ready by Feb. 20.

In the interim, any voters who arrive at the election authorities’ offices will be provided with an application to vote by mail and a ballot will be mailed to them when they are ready.

You can check the county clerk’s website and the BEC website for a list of early voting sites and times.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected]. 

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…