House panel demands answers from Illinois county over suspended early voting, ballot errors

The House Administration Committee, which oversees federal elections, is demanding answers from an Illinois county that suspended early voting just four weeks before the midterm elections, citing ballot mistakes. 

The Champaign County Clerk & Recorder announced last week that county officials were “made aware of an error on a ballot.” A review of the error uncovered a more widespread problem that prompted the county to temporarily suspend early voting.  

House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., and Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., sent a letter Friday to Champaign County Clerk & Recorder Aaron Ammons. Miller represents parts of Champaign County. 

“On Monday, October 5, your office announced that nearly 600 voters received ballots with incorrect names of candidates for public office. The errors included a race for a local county executive that was mislabeled as a Congressional race,” wrote Steil and Miller in the letter obtained by Just the News. 

“Ballot printing errors and unilateral suspensions in voting undermine public confidence in the nation’s elections. This issue merits careful attention and assurance that it will not reoccur,” they also said.

You can read the letter below:

According to local reporting, many voters in the county did not learn that early voting had been suspended until they arrived to vote at polling locations. 

The committee is asking Champaign County to answer questions about how it notified voters about the suspension, how the ballot misprints occurred, how new ballots will be verified, and how voters who already cast votes on error-riddled ballots will be given the opportunity to submit valid votes. 

“Champaign County has faced repeated election problems of their own making, and the Clerk’s office has consistently failed to get the basics right,” congresswoman Miller said in a statement. “This can no longer be brushed off as an isolated mistake. Voters deserve accountability and proof the Clerk’s office can run a reliable election in November.”