How to make voting and democracy work better in Cook County
Having just retired after three decades as Cook County clerk, I leave encouraged by voter engagement, evidenced by our recent election.
Cook County voters broke registration, early voting and mail voting records and turnout exceeded that of comparable elections going back at least 30 years. The number of younger voters went up, which bodes well for their future participation in our democracy.
Over the past three decades the voters of Cook County gained more ease and efficiency in voting, registration and running for office. Early voting, mail voting, motor voter, online, automatic and election day registration, as well as the consolidation of local suburban elections, were wins for voters and taxpayers. Consolidation alone saved Cook County $38 million and Illinois an estimated $100 million since 1999.
There is more to do, though, to improve elections for voters and candidates. I have advocated for reforms to the candidate filing and challenge process, some of which now are legislation in Springfield. If not passed in this veto session, these reforms should be a priority for the next legislature and governor. Among the other reforms we need are these: ◆ Lower signature requirements, allow eSigning: It’s time to lower the signature requirements, countywide and in Chicago. Last week, candidates for Chicago mayor turned in tens of thousands of signatures — more than the required 12,500. This week the petition challenges begin. The signature requirements are unnecessarily high and the process is sometimes delayed by court decisions as signatures are challenged.
The petition process can be moved from paper forms to tablets, as Denver has successfully done, with their eSign mobile application. ESign enables candidates to gather signatures in person, but digitally, with real time feedback on whether the voter is registered or lives in the right district. It also allows signers to update their voter registrations on the spot. In Denver’s 2015 election, 97 percent of eSign signatures collected were accepted. In Cook County, as many as half are thrown out during challenges, often because voters haven’t updated their registration addresses.
◆ Moving the primary date: We need to increase the time between filing and primary election day by two weeks to ensure that courts have adequate time to resolve electoral board decisions and ensure that ballots are 100 percent accurate. This change is best coupled with a move of the primary election to May or later.
◆ Provide support to local election officials to defend our election system: Election security is vitally important. Elections administrators must remain vigilant to defend our systems. The 8,800 local election officials around the country need resources, human and financial, if they are going to continue defending our systems from foreign adversaries. The work Cook County has done behind the scenes, working with cyber security experts from around the country has helped bolster our constant efforts to defend, detect and protect our elections from the threats faced every day. We know, though, that this vigilance must be maintained, and I trust the office of Cook County clerk will continue to constantly work to fight these threats.
◆ Continued vigilance against cheating: There are still places in our state where the incentive to cheat in local elections is strong enough to overcome enforcement efforts. The clerk’s office has invested heavily in investigations and efforts to prevent fraud in local elections. We prevented numerous such efforts, including a 2015 mail ballot scheme that led to a fraud conviction this year. It is important to closely monitor voter behavior and be ready to act when suspicious activity arises. Winners gain legitimacy only if elections are widely seen as honest. Losers must know that they lost fairly. That is only possible if we make every effort to detect, prevent and punish illegal voting behavior. While fraud is rare, it does happen, most often in small local elections. But we must be responsible in enforcing the laws and not using rare cheating events to create systems that disenfranchise voters.
◆ Money in politics and voter suppression: These are two great threats to our democracy. There are ways to combat them. Cities like Denver and Spokane, Wash., and states like California and Pennsylvania all have enacted some form of “dark money” disclosure and political action committee restriction laws. Illinois can be at the forefront of campaign disclosure and dark money reform by enacting similar reforms. In Illinois, our voting initiatives over the past few decades, from motor voter to expanded early voting to automatic voter registration, have made registration and voting easier. We must ensure Illinois continues to be a leader on this front, by protecting these advances.
My final day as Cook County Clerk was Friday, but I will remain active and invested in these issues which are at the heart of our democracy. I urge everyone who cares as deeply about our democracy as I do to also work to protect these rights.