The officials overseeing elections in Peoria and Tazewell counties say they haven’t changed any plans for the November midterm elections following a U.S. Supreme Court decision tied to mail-in ballots.
Earlier this week, the high court paused a ruling that limited President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to assert greater federal control of mail-in voting.
“Right now, everything is still the same for the most part,” said Peoria County Election Commission Executive Director Jessily Joseph.
“At this time, this ruling to me doesn’t really have any immediate direct effect on our upcoming November election,” said Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman.
The Supreme Court’s decision was based on a procedural issue, and did not weigh in on whether the order is legal. On Wednesday, a federal judge in Boston canceled a nationwide ruling that blocked the U.S. Postal Service from working on Trump’s directives.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has joined a multistate lawsuit against the postal service challenging its new rules regulating mail-in voting in federal elections.
“I sincerely don’t see this recent [Supreme Court] decision or any pending action having an impact on the November election, just because we’re too far into the process at this point,” said Ackerman. “I just I don’t see how those timetables could be turned out in order to change procedures and policies this quickly.”
Both Joseph and Ackerman said their offices currently intend to send out the vote-by-mail ballots as scheduled on Sept. 24, the first day of early voting.
“If anything is to change prior to us mailing out our ballots on Sept. 24, then we will let our voters know,” said Joseph. “But besides that, it’s still business as usual.”
Ackerman stressedhis office always follows all state and federal laws that apply to elections and mail-in voting.
“We’ve always monitored those for changes; there frequently are changes,” he said. “So, is this something that is unusual? No. There’s always conversations about rules being changed, procedures being changed, and we always monitor them and make sure that we are in compliance with those changes that have been passed.
“I just want to reassure voters that everything is proceeding ahead as normal.”
