Mayor Calls for Elimination of Aurora Election Commission
In a Wednesday (March 16, 2016) news release, Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner called for the elimination of the Aurora Election Commission “in the wake of its election night failure to post online the General Primary election results in national, state and local races.”
The city of Aurora news release said www.auroravotes.org failed to list any election results until after 9 a.m. Wednesday, more than 14 hours after polls closed.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Weisner said the city of Aurora was made aware of the situation Wednesday morning by residents who voted in the General Primary and expected to see the accurate election results.
The city also received complaints from a media outlet that was unable to adequately report the results, the release said.
Weisner called for residents to place a citywide referendum on the November ballot to abolish the Election Commission. Aurora’s City Council voted to place a referendum on the ballot in 2010, but the Election Commission refused to do so, arguing that the issue could be placed on the ballot only through voter petitions.
Weisner said computer technology and high-speed communication make the election commission obsolete and redundant.
“A satellite Aurora office of the Kane County Clerk could provide more efficient election services to our city,” Weisner said. “That same satellite office could also provide marriage licenses, passports, birth and death certificates, all at a cost less than Aurora taxpayers are forced to pay to the commission currently.”
Weisner explained that Kane County residents of Aurora pay taxes to both Kane County and to the city in support of the Aurora Election Commission. DuPage County residents of Aurora receive all their election services from the DuPage County Election Commission, and Will and Kendall County residents of Aurora receive service from the Aurora Election Commission despite, although those counties make no contribution to cover the AEC’s operating costs.
“In one way or another the (Aurora) Election Commission is a bad deal for everybody,” Weisner said.
The city’s strongly-worded news release cited additional incidents, including failure to perform regular audits to account for the half-million dollars or more in taxpayer funds they receive from the county and the city each year. The last audit known to have been accomplished was for the 2013 calendar year.
The city release said the Election Commission “had stockpiled $400,000 in unearned revenue in its bank account, while at the same time declaring it did not have sufficient funds to perform required statutory duties.”
The release said the office has consistently failed to provide agenda-supporting documents for Commission Board meetings in a timely fashion to the city, as required by the Memorandum of Agreement with Kane county and the city.
The Aurora Election Commission, which was created by referendum in 1934, consists of three board members who according to state law must be appointed by Kane County’s chief judge, the news release said.
On Thursday morning, Kane County Clerk John A. “Jack” Cunningham told members of the Kane County Public Service Committee that his office was examining logistics but was confident his staff could handle election services in Aurora if called upon to do so.
“We have a plan if Aurora does do this,” he said.
