By Greg Bishop/Illinois Radio Network
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Illinois’ statewide elections authority will take up a series of questions from the Trump Administration’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, but it might not offer much response.
President Donald Trump’s commission met for the first time Wednesday. President Trump said the work is important to find out how to make elections fairer while making the more secure.
Illinois State Board of Elections General Counsel Ken Menzel said the state has already denied the voter data portion of the request and next month the state elections board will be taking up seven questions the federal commission sent over.
The questions, according to Menzel, are:
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What changes, if any, to federal election laws would the state recommend to enhance the integrity of federal elections?
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How can the commission support state and local election administrators with regard to information technology security and vulnerabilities?
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What laws, policies and other issues hinder the state’s ability to ensure the integrity of elections it administers?
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What evidence or information does the state have regarding instances of voter fraud or registration fraud in Illinois?
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What convictions for election-related crimes have occurred in Illinois since the Nov. 2000 federal elections?
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What recommendations does Illinois have to prevent voter intimidation and voter disenfranchisement?
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What issues does Illinois believe the commission should consider?
“To a large degree, I’m suspecting our answers are going to kind of mirror [Illinois State Board of Elections] Executive Director [Steve] Sandvoss’ testimony to that Senate Intelligence Committee,” Menzel said. That testimony was given in Washington, D.C. last month and covered last summer’s cyber attack on the state’s voter database.
On other questions, “In Illinois voter fraud is, of course, a criminal activity which is prosecuted by state’s attorneys,” Menzel said. “So we’re probably not going to have a lot of first-hand data as to their fraud information.”
The state board will discuss other questions further next month.
The federal commission’s various members made up of statewide and local elections authorities from around the country were mixed on if they’d seen voter fraud cases.
