McHenry County Blog

And, according to this email today from Defend the Vote‘s Sharon Meroni, the Democratic Party election officials won’t even tell who the judges will be who take votes from nursing home residents.

The voting will be Friday and she seeks Republicans to volunteer to ensure chicanery does not occur.

Editor Note: Aaron Del Mar, Cook County Republican Chairman, is authorizing this investigation of the nursing home vote in Cook County.

Subject: RE: UNLAWFUL? NURSING HOME – Legal ALERT

This is the problem…

Noah Praetz has stated he cannot send me ANY lists of nursing home judges because he sent me wrong data before and I reacted by asking the question with all of you cc’d. This is like punishing the recipient of his error.

Time is short. Friday is voting day for the nursing homes. In March 75% of the nursing home residents’ rights were violated. Yet not one of you, except Noah, responds?

How can this be?

Who is going to watch these voters?

Where is the Illinois State Board of Elections?

For the FIRST time ever, Chicago managed to get voting Republicans into the appropriate nursing home election judge positions. (info via Commissioner Richard Cowen).

This compared to Cook County which is COMPLETELY stonewalling all of our access… And refuses to send us the names of the election judges for the Nursing Homes?

Only they know who the mysterious judges are. Judges, that Cook County has already had trainings for. Did they sign in to train anonymously?

In Cook County, our most vulnerable voters vote on Friday. Over 3000.

Our election security is partisan based.

The law lays out how the nursing home patient vote is to be conducted.

Cook County is in violation of these laws.

Who is protecting the nursing home resident’s vote? Who has the jurisdiction? Please, I need to know, are we alone in this battle to protect the most vulnerable voters in Cook County?

Regards,

Sharon Meroni 
312-242-1818

Whenever folks see something on Chicago TV or in the Chicago Tribune or Sun-Times, they place inordinate significance to the subject matter.

If it matters to those news deciders, then it must be important, right?

Monday the woman who called the Special Meeting of the McHenry County Republican Central Committee for the purpose of giving Tonya Franklin a chance to run as a Republican against six-term incumbent Jack Franks, got a full page and a half for her favorite cause–Defend the Vote.

In the collective memory of Illinois citizens is the 1960 Presidential election in which voters in cemeteries cast ballots.

I remember when my father moved to Illinois to take a job with the Barley and Malt Institute in 1958, he lived in a single-room occupancy hotel in Chicago before finding a rental at 100 W. Crystal Lake Avenue in Crystal Lake.

That fall, after the election, my father had forwarded to him a letter from the Democratic Ward Committeeman thanking him for voting.

Guess that means my Dad voted twice, because he certainly voted in McHenry County.

Meroni is on a tear attacking the Chicago and Cook County Democrats for not having a Republican judge present when nursing home residents vote.

Her organization has Argonne National Laboratory security experts looking at ballot security and guess what?

It’s not so secure.

The headline on a Chicago Sun-Times article is

Easy voting machine sabotage?

The headline on the internet is

Researchers break open voting machines in test of security

Democrat David Orr charges that the group “has a partisan agenda.

We don’t need no investigation by no goo-goos, seems to be the attitude of the Chicago Board of Elections and the Cook County Clerk.

No looking behind the curtain, here, folks.

An email from Sharon Meroni, who organized the effort to get Tonya Franklin on the ballot to oppose Democrat “Chainsaw Jack” Franks.

Meroni, a write-in candidate for Republican Precinct Committeeman in Fox River Grove, did something I have seen no other GOP Precinct Committeemen do since 1966–she got a Special Meeting of the Central Committee.

I want to thank the spirited coalition of supporters for Tonya Franklin’s application to be placed on the Republican ballot against Jack Franks.

We worked hard to get our vote.

We failed.

Truthfully, that still hurts.

I am new to McHenry County Republicans.

Many of us are.

This project to get a legitimate vote for or against Tonya’s application had positive momentum with the goals to inform fellow committeemen (and precinct captains) while providing a venue to vote.

My personal disappointment at being denied that vote is raw.

I work at Defend the Vote every day and actually suspended my research to fight for the committeemen’s vote with the McHenry County Republican Party leadership.

That is how important this matter was to me.

This fight wasn’t planned.

Rep Tryon asked us to find a candidate.

We did so, and we stepped up to support that candidate.

The discovery process of learning that Rep Tryon was actually actively suppressing the legal vote of the Committeemen was just that; a discovery process.

It was disappointing.

One unavoidable outcome of the meeting is on-the-record proof that our own party leadership literally actively worked to defeat the committeemen’s effort to have the vote Illinois law and McHenry Count By-laws specifically provides for.

Rep Tryon has never responded to the charge that he failed to set up the required meeting, despite being given ample notice that the vote from the “committee that was not a committee” (in his letter redefined as the Executive Committee) was not authorized in Illinois Law or in McHenry County Republican By-Laws.

In addition, Rep. Tryon made the political and tactical decision to cancel the meeting required by McHenry County By-Laws, and which should have been held on May 17th.

If this meeting had been held, Committeemen would have had the vote (for or against Tonya’s application) that is entitled as solely ours by Illinois law.

When we asked for this May 17th meeting to be scheduled, Tryon’s leadership responded with silence and then a cancellation of a meeting that was never scheduled.

When we asked McHenry County Republican Committeemen for a special meeting and achieved the 25% required in McHenry County Republican By-laws, Tryon’s leadership responded with two blasts from an email intimating it was not a legal meeting and that the Chairmen would not attend…Leaving the definite impression the June 2nd Special Meeting was not legitimate.

Then Chairman Tryon and Vice Chairman Mark Daniel showed up to Chair the meeting.

Chairman Tryon admits on the record, more than once, that it this was a legitimate meeting, but we needed a quorum.

When committeemen questioned Chairmen’s obvious manipulation to suppress a quorum, he literally ran off the stage.

Disappointing?

Chairman Tryon was unable to speak to us.

While emotions were high, we were not shouting; Committeemen who had the floor, asked for accountability.

We had lawyers and parliamentarians there to assure the meeting was professionally run.

Our attorney, a skilled election lawyer named Laura Jacksack, and the parliamentarians were instrumental in guiding the meeting. (You guys were great!)

It was an exercise in Liberty!

The result, Chairmen Tryon, who was unable to withstand scrutiny, ran off the stage.

This fall, the Republican Party’s “showroom” in the 63rd State Representative District will be as empty as the closed Ford dealership in the Vulcan Lakes TIF District on Route 14 in Crystal Lake.

The McHenry County Republican Party has thrown in the towel for the third time in four election cycles.  Once on Bill LeFew’s watch, twice on Mike Tryon’s.

“Chainsaw Jack” Franks and his family can have a rip snorting celebration tonight.

The long and the short of the Special Meeting Saturday morning was that Tea Party-inspired Tonya Franklin’s supporters could not muster the 40% quorum.

A humorous moment occurred while Vice Chairman Mark Daniel took the roll call.  His cell phone went off.  The ring tone was the theme from “The Godfather.”

62 of the 155 elected and appointed Precinct Committeemen were needed.

There were not that many.

Even County Board Chairman Ken Koehler, with whom Franks is having the closest thing to a blood feud as I have seen in local politics, and who told me and Tonya Franklin at his fund raiser that he would be in attendance, was absent.

Only 38 were in attendance, so “unfortunately we don’t have a quorum,” as Tonya Franklin’s attorney Laura Jacksack explained to the crowd.

There was discussion of adjourning the meeting to a time specific.

Melissa Denker, who was sitting behind me next to Mike Shorten, said, “I don’t have time for that.”

“This is not an official meeting of the McHenry County Central Committee,” Tryon explained.

“This is a Special Meeting called by 25% [of the Committeemen].”

Tryon invited Tonya Franklin to the podium. I only got snatches as she shed some tears while giving what I would call a gracious concession speech.

Tonya Franklin addressed 38 assembled GOP Precinct Committeemen and observers after it became clear that the quorum of 40% (62) were not present.

“Well, we put up a good fight…”I’m crying but I’m so appreciative that you’re here.

“This took a lot of hard work.

“When they said, ‘Nobody knew me,’ we proved them wrong…

“We should not let an election go uncontested…

“I’m just a Mom and I really are.

“Patriots inspire me

“Under Michael Madigan Illinois has the 47th worst state for business.

“I was hoping you all had a candidate.

“I want to be a Precinct Committeeman. I’ll walk.

“I don’t know if I’ll be back to run again, but [I'll work this year to elect Republicans].”

“I’m crying but I’m so appreciative.”

Afterward, Tryon asked for questions and discussion.

Tonya Franklin’s daughter asked why Tryon had rejected her mother.

“I’m not a Boss Hog kind of person,” the mild-mannered Chairman said.

“If we go into closed session, I can [answer that question].

“We have aired this in public.

“Our bylaws are online.  I wouldn’t have wanted that.”

Tryon mentioned “that kind of energy going on,” but I didn’t catch the context.

He stressed that political parties are “private.”

“We don’t have to air our differences in public.

“If we’re going to have discussions, bylaws, we should have [discussions in private].

The woman who initiated the call for the Special Meeting, write-in winner Sharon Meroni said, “The truth is that you sent out an email discouraging people from coming.

“Now, you’ve stated this is an official meeting.”

“Why wouldn’t you appoint my Mom?” Tonya Franklin’s daughter reiterated.

Mike Shorten moved to close the meeting, which was seconded by Melissa Denker.

I pointed out that Tonya Franklin’s daughter would not be allowed in a closed meeting and argued against shutting out the visitors and Woodstock Advocate reporter Gus Philpott (wearing a name tag that said, “Media, but not the Northwest Herald”) and the NWH’s Brett Rowland.

Eleven of the 38 raised their hands in favor of closing the meeting, so it was kept open.

“When I was approached by Sharon,” Tryon explained, “I met for breakfast with three of our Vice Chairmen and [others of the Executive Committee whose identity I did not catch].

“[We] asked

• why she wanted to try,
• [about] her platform,
• what she had done [about] putting together a campaign plan.

“The Executive Board made a decision not to recommend [her].”

Tryon pointed out there were “two schools of thought:”

• that Franks should be kept busy
• that fielding an opponent would allow Franks to raise more money and get involved in local elections

He also pointed out that he didn’t remember that Central Committee having had a quorum in the last six years.  “There may have been one.”

Meroni asked about the “official letter” Tryon sent out.

“I asked Geri to draft a letter to explain what’s [happening].

“I feel like a rag doll being pulled apart.

“You’ve been criticizing me.  That’s unsettling to me.

“I don’t read blogs,” Tryon said.  He noted that he had been reading McHenry County Blog for the last few weeks.

“I my stop reading them for good.  For good health, I’ve decided to stop reading them.”

Someone in the audience (I believe it was Betty Miller) said,

“You have nobody.

“You can’t find anyone?”

At that point, Tonya Franklin said,

“I could win.”

Steve Verr, who ran against Ann Hughes, Mike Brown and Tom Salvi in Republican primary elections for State Representative asked Tryon,

“Did you approve of that letter?”

“I did,” the Chairman answered.

“Then I think the Democratic Party has seized control of the Republican Central Committee.”

At that point, Mike Tryon walked out of the meeting room at d’Andrea’s.

After Tryon left, Verr was heard to say,

“I’ve been living with this [for a long time].

“This is the rottenest county in the rottenest state.

Tonya Franklin addressed the dispersing crowd by saying,

“Thank you all for coming.

“Let’s keep it positive.

“I’m not better than nothing now.

“No one’s running against Jack Franks.”

It remains to be seen if Franks will try to expand his base into the Crystal Lake-Lakewood-Lake in the Hills District 2 to campaign door-to-door against Koehler.

I can tell you that Franks was actively seeking money from solid Republicans in my precinct a couple of years ago.  There was a mailing followed by a phone call.  Maybe he was looking for more Republicans to put on his “Host Committee.”

To the surprise of many, GOP Chairman Mike Tryon was in attendance and chaired the meeting.

Tryon had sent out an email twice and a letter to some Precinct Committeemen (not including yours truly) basically urging people to stay home, declaring,

“Please be advised that this meeting is NOT a Central Committee meeting.”

Nevertheless, instead of driving south to his vacation home in Missouri, Tryon drove back north to Crystal Lake after the legislative session ended Thursday.

When asked later in the meeting if he had approved the email that he said that he had asked Executive Director Geri Davis to draft, he admitted he had read and approved it.

Another anonymous email (“Concerned Citizen”) made the rounds–again, not sent to me–which I reproduce below:

Dear Committeemen and Committeewomen:

As a concerned resident and voter in McHenry County, I respectfully request that you not attend the unofficial, unsanctioned and improper gathering being planned by Cal Skinner in a desperate, last minute attempt to slate a woefully unqualified candidate to run for state Representative.

The process fails to adhere to McHenry County GOP by-laws and is marred with distortion. Nothing is wrong with a candidate running for office, but this charade is an affront to primary voters that deserved the opportunity to make up their own minds. With what little we know about Ms. Franklin already, local residents are right to be worried. Primary elections are meant to vet candidates for a general election and it is obvious why this candidate found it beneficial to skip that step.

If case you haven’t already seen today’s Northwest Herald, please read the article below. Following the article, also see another copy of an letter from Chairman Tryon explaining the situation and detailing why Ms. Franklin’s candidacy was declined.

Thanks for your service and taking the time to read this message.

In addition, the entire Northwest Herald article on Tonya Franklin was reproduced, with the following emphasized in yellow:

“Tryon pointed out that the May 24 date of the letter could mean only nine days’ notice was provided…

“‘The fact is, the party’s resources are very limited and have to be managed very strategically. Even the energy needs to be strategically placed – the energy to get [52nd House candidate] Dave McSweeney elected, to get [Mitt] Romney elected in our county,’Tryon said.’“The election just isn’t about one race – it’s about strategically placing your party’s resources to be as successful as you can.’”

I’m trying to remember assistance the local Republican Party did in the Twenty-one times I was running for the Republican nomination or was the Republican candidate for office. Some committeemen passed out literature in person. I’m sure others made mailings. There were marked sample ballots some years.

I do remember my campaign’s being assessed hundreds of dollars to pay for the printing of the literature.

Basically, though, candidates are on their own.

And most campaigns will have less effort put into them this summer and fall than Tonya Franklin and her volunteers put in over the last two weeks.

= = = = =

Other scuttlebutt picked at the meeting is that a lot of courthouse folks can expect to be giving depositions as a result of Special Assistant State’s Attorney Bill Caldwell’s motion for sanctions against Zane Seipler.  This was in Seipler’s over two-year unsuccessful attempt to get Associate Judge Thomas Meyer to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate whether or not Sheriff Keith Nygren used county-paid resources to advance his election.

As an operative for the Republican Party in McHenry County sends out (again, not to me) Chairman Mike Tryon’s letter discouraging attendance at the Special Meeting of the local GOP at d’Andrea’s Saturday morning at 9 AM (public is invited), the woman who initiated the meeting has sent the following:

A personal note: The strength of the Republican Party is at the grassroots.

Learning about McHenry County politics has been fascinating!

I have especially appreciated meeting Committeemen and local candidates these past couple of days at Liberty Center (Vaughan’s in Woodstock).

Illinois law and McHenry County By-laws mandates McHenry County Committeemen have a weighted vote to elect two representatives from the 63rd House District. Along with Chairman Tryon they form a legislative committee.

Following the vote on Saturday, the newly formed legislative committee will immediately reconvene at Woodstock Square (Starbucks) to vote for or against Tonya’s placement on the Republican ballot.

Yes, I do want to persuade you to vote YES for our pro-Tonya slate, and welcome the opportunity to do so between now and Saturday morning’s vote.

More importantly, I want to ask you to show up to vote.

I called the meeting, but I am not the leader. We are.

25% of McHenry County Committeemen and many additional Committeemen we are contacting from Victory Center (Vaughan’s).

We offer you information and the venue to meet as Committeemen and then to vote.

We are not engaging here to fight Chairman Tryon and his team.

We are here to fight Mr. Incumbent – AKA Franks and Madigan.

This election is about providing choices to Republicans in McHenry County.

It is about engaging in the conversation with Democrats, race by race!

I respectfully request that Chairman Tryon and the McHenry County Republican Party team join us and lead us on Saturday.

Even if we disagree, let’s engage as McHenry County Republicans, on Saturday morning.

And then – better for this exercise in Liberty, join and work together. November is nearly here, and it is time to change the General Assembly and the White House!

From Yesterday – Update: The supporters for Tonya have arranged for Republican election lawyer, Laura Jacksack, to be available to answer questions you might have about legal issues related to the meeting.

Today’s Events: Good Ole’ Retail Politics – Meet and Greet for lunch, snacks and dinner. We are responding to Mr. Incumbent’s greeting he left at Victory Center. Also, we are contacting fellow Committeemen and organizing the weekend petition walk.

We are moving quickly as we organize.

Really, Vaughan’s food is unbelievable.

Join us all day today (11am-9pm) for food, conversation, and mobilization.

SHARING RESOURCES: SEND US/DROP OFF YOUR LITERATURE: Do you want to communicate with your fellow Committeemen?

We don’t have much time, but if you send me a jpeg type file, (by 11pm tonight) we will add it to our PowerPoint for tomorrow.

There will be time for visuals to flip through the background from 8-9am and then after the meeting (out by 11am).

If you have a local issue (or are a candidate) please send us something by 10pm tonight.

Also, bring your literature to Victory Center.

We have precinct walk sheets with phone numbers for the entire 63rd District for distribution and sharing.

This is a great time to promote Republican leadership, and we look forward to the meeting on Saturday!

With enthusiasm, we are looking forward to Saturday. Tonya and her team are motivated and experienced grassroots workers. We also love to have fun while we work.

Respectfully,
Sharon Meroni

PS: Lori Miller has a surprise to share on Saturday.
Vaughan’s Family Restaurant
790 S Eastwood Dr, (Hwy 47)
Woodstock, IL
Temporary Campaign Phone Number 847-304-8800.

Friday: 1:00 am – 9:00 pm
Lunch or Dinner! Phone Calling – Pick Up Walk Sheets, and Committeemen Folders

Saturday: 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Petition Signature Central – Pick Up Walk Sheets – Notary After 4pm.

Sunday: 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Petition Signature Central – Pick Up Walk Sheets – Notary

REMINDERS:

200 Hours to Success- The Challenge: Traditionally, in door to door campaigns, 10 signatures an hour can be collected. Signatures collected door to door, are by far the most reliable and walking provides an opportunity to drop off literature to inform voters.

Based on the calculation of 10 signatures an hour, we need 150 walking hours to achieve 1500 signatures. Rounding that figure up to 200 walking hours provides extra cushion.

Two days… We need commitments for 200 walking hours, 100 each day.

UPDATE: We have 100 hours committed to already! We have a structure in place to help us keep track of the commitments and the walk sheets. Over the weekend notary Linda Moore will be available to assure each petition is properly notarized.

We have acquired neighborhood by neighborhood walk sheets for the entire 63rd House District. That is over 19,000 Republicans. We will hand these out from our Victory Center beginning Friday. We will also have literature to hand out. Join us and we will provide you updated walk sheets for your precinct!

Our temporary Victory Center call-in number is 847-304-8800. We invite you to bring your cell phone and help us to make this campaign a success as part of our response to Mr. Incumbent’s welcome message yesterday!

At the Victory Center are packets we made for Committeeman specifically for the McHenry County Republican Party Special Meeting on June 2nd. We mailed these to Committeemen, if you do not have yours by Friday night, please stop by and we will give you a second one. If you are appointed AFTER May 24th, we don’t have your name or address yet, so please let us know! We have extras at the Victory Center.

Back in his student days, Andy Martin-Trigona so irritated the legal establishment in Illinois by probing the corruption in the Illinois Supreme Court that when he got his law degree he wasn’t granted a license.

Since then he has been successful in the radio business, been vilified by a certain segment of the political arena who will probably pop up here in the comment section and been the most cogent opponent to Judy Baar Topinka when she and he ran in the Republican Party primary for Governor. (The WBEZ debate was something to see and hear.)

He has run for other offices in other states, as well as for President this year. More recently he has run as and is known as Andy Martin.

Somehow what McHenry County Republican leaders are doing to prevent Democrat Jack Franks from having an opponent in Tonya Franklin has caught his eye.

His open letter of yesterday to Chairman Mike Tryon follows:

May 28, 2012

Michael Tryon – Chairman
5501 Northwest Highway
Crystal Lake, IL 60014

via email and USPS

Re: Your efforts to block Republican candidates

Dear Mike:

I am writing you about the scandal you are creating by trying to manipulate Illinois election laws to

1. frustrate Republican candidates and to
2. create a local “cabal” with another Democratic Party representative from McHenry County.

Republicans have been stooges for Democrats going back well into the last century.

The “West Side Block” was a group of nominal Republicans who worked in conjunction with Democrats in the Illinois House.

More recently some current state representatives are also identified as stooges of the Democratic Party.

But, historically, the suburbs and suburban leaders have rejected your Chicago-style bipartisan cronyism and corruption.

I have never met Tonya Franklin, who wants to run against Representative Jack Franks for state representative, and the only time I met Sharon Meroni was in court—when I sued her.So I am no front man for either Franklin or Meroni.

Then what is my agenda?

I am a constitutional conservative.

Ever since I went to the Illinois General Assembly as an intern in 1965 I have fought against corruption, cronyism and perversion of our Constitution.

Instead of encouraging Republicans to run, you are trying to run them down.

Mike Tryon

Jack Franks

Is that your idea of what makes for an effective county chairman?

You and Franks could be subject to potential federal criminal and civil liability for conspiring to prevent candidates from running for office, see e.g. 18 U.S.C. §§ 241, 245 (a), 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Tonya Franklin

I don’t know if Tonya Franklin is a good candidate or a bad candidate.

I don’t know if she can run an effective campaign or not.

Let the voters decide!

She at least is willing to try to defeat your crony, Representative Jack Franks, and that is more than you are willing to do.

You have also tried to sabotage direct election of Illinois State Central Committee members.

Your actions in trying to personally control local appointments to the state central committee, and to deprive McHenry voters of their constitutional right to vote for state committee representation, is apparently part of your ongoing and extensive campaign to dilute and defeat Republicans other than yourself, and to use party office and public office as a personal fiefdom instead of as a public trust.

I ask you to see that Ms. Franklin is appointed the Republican candidate to oppose Representative Franks without any further harassment, corruption or delay.

Your tactics are becoming another embarrassment to the Illinois Republican Party.

The party is the people; the party is not a handful of corrupt insiders led by State Representative Tom Cross and his followers. Cross is selfishly trying to “lock the doors” to new Republicans and trying to prevent Republicans from once again becoming a majority party and taking control of state government, to avoid diluting his own petty personal political power.

Given your record and Cross’s record of defeating democracy and working to deny ordinary Republicans a voice and vote in their own party and state central committee, all of you insiders should either stand up and fight for Republicans, or step down and stop helping the Democrats destroy Illinois government.

Please feel free to call if you have any questions. Otherwise, I assume you will comply with Illinois state law, appoint the statutorily-mandated district committee, and see that Ms. Franklin is named as the party’s candidate for state representative without further delay.

Sincerely yours,

ANDY

Here is the notice being sent by Sharon Meroni and over 25% of the Republican Precinct Committeemen to all Republican Precinct Committeemen in McHenry County.

It announces the call of a Special Meeting to appoint two Representative Committeemen for Jack Franks’ 63rd State Rep. District.

Sharon Meroni
45th Algonquin Precinct Committeeman

May 24, 2012

Pursuant to and in accordance with the By-Laws of the McHenry County Republican Central Committee, a Call for a “Special Meeting” may be called by not less than 25% of the committeemen.

This Special Meeting is for the purpose of electing two members to the Representative Committee of the 63rd Representative District, from among the members of the county central committee who reside in the 63rd Representative District.

Under state law, these two members, along with Chairman Tryon, form the Representative Committee of the 63rd Representative District.

The candidate seeking appointment, Tonya Franklin, will introduce herself and answer questions. Discussion will follow and the Republican Central Committee will select two Committeemen to the Committee.

The Special Meeting of the McHenry County Republican Central Committee shall be held on Saturday, June 2nd, 2012 at 9:00am.

It will be held at D’Adrea’s: 4419 Northwest Highway, Crystal Lake, IL 60014 (815) 459-7234.

Following the appointment of this Representative Committee, the newly formed Committee will immediately
convene at Starbucks on the Square of Woodstock (129 East Van Buren Street, Woodstock, IL 60098), which is
located in the 63rd Representative District, to fill the vacancy in nomination for the 63rd Representative District.

Respectively,

Sharon Meroni

The following Committeemen call for this meeting:

• Andrew Gasser
• Anne Majewski
• Barbara Klasen


Odds are that Jack Franks will still run unopposed, but he'll probably postpone October and early November vacation reservations until after he sees if Tonya Franklin makes it on the ballot.

• Betty Miller
• Bob Anderson
• Cal Skinner, Jr
• Charles Lutzow
• David Finke
• Demetrios Pete Tsilimigras
• Diane F Evertsen
• Eileen Marhoefer
• George Jost
• James Thompson
• Janness Abraham
• John Hammerand
• John O’Neill
• Lenora C Nolan
• Linda I Moore
• Lori Lee White
• Lou Anne Majewski
• Mary Alger
• Mary Joestgen
• Melissa Milica Denker
• Michael Carl Hansen
• Michael Clarke
• Michael McCleary
• Micheal Moore
• Nick Provenzano
• Rebecca M Lee
• Rita Heuel
• Robert Borchert
• Robert M Abraham
• Sharon Meroni
• Steven J Rooney
• Steven Robert Verr
• Thomas McDermott
• Tom Wilbeck
• David R Gervais
• Sue Sedar

“Special meetings of the COMMITTEE may be called by the Chairman, or by not less than 25% of the members of the committee, by mailing notice in writing to each Precinct Committeemen at least 10 days in advance… Article XI page 14)

“if a legislative or representative district comprises only one county, or part of a county, its legislative or representative committee shall consist of the chairman of the county central committee and 2 members of the county central committee who reside in the legislative or representative district, as the case may be, elected by the county central committee.” (10 ILCS 5/8-5) (from Ch. 46, par. 8-5)

= = = = =

If the 63rd Representative Committee nominates the only candidate who has held her hand up, Tonya Franklin,  she will have about one and half days to obtain 500 “good” signatures and take them to Springfield on the next Monday.

Barrington Hills resident Sharon Meroni has made ballot integrity a major goal in her life.

Colleague Steve Boulton attended her presentation to the Chicago Board of Elections and wrote the following article, reprinted here with permission of the author

Defend The Vote: Great News from the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners on Ballot Security Improvements

Defend The Vote had an excellent day yesterday at a long-awaited session with the full Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. Sharon Meroni, Executive Director of Defend The Vote, addressed the Commissioners on behalf of the organization, dong a simply marvelous job.

Sharon is now very knowledgeable about the details, procedures and voting equipment as a result of one and one-half years of nearly full time investigation and analysis.

She is now bringing that hard-won knowledge to bear in seeking key changes to improve ballot security.

She quite obviously has the respect of the Board and its staff, I believe because she has “walked the walk” on ballot integrity and can speak to them at their own sophisticated levels, and now knows the topics in detail.

At the meeting, to the stunned but happy surprise of Sharon, myself (as Chairman of Defend The Vote), and our assembled supporting spectators, we learned that the Commissioners have not only considered the deep concerns raised by Defend the Vote over the past months, they have acted on more than one with important change to improve ballot security in Chicago beginning now in 2012.

Sometimes fighting the good fight gets results!

1. Precinct Polling Place Ballot Security. Over the past two years, Defend The Vote and the Chicago Republican Party conducted a lengthy investigation of ballot security protocols for polling places and the security measures used to secure ballot boxes, finding major avenues for vote fraud.

Sharon’s work was financed by Champion News.

Then, in April 2011, Defend The Vote used this newly gained knowledge to conduct a surprise audit of Chicago polling places in the Chicago Municipal Runoff election.

In assessing well over 200 precincts, the Audit found major lapses in ballot security at 90% of the polling places, and 58% of the polling places had unsealed ballot boxes. The findings were put in a 43 page report by DTV Executive Director Sharon Meroni that was published in the peer review Journal of Physical Security, of the Argonne National Laboratory.

As a direct result of that work and the Audit, the Board has substantially revised and upgraded its polling place security procedures, particularly with regard to the multiple security seals used on ballot box equipment, which was a major area of concern.

The Board is even going so far as to buy new seals which will be more difficult to compromise, and will be recording serial numbers of all seals on all ballot boxes, thereby closing a major security loophole.

From now on, any seals removed and/or replaced for any reason must be kept and tendered back to the Board, along with explanations. It is a major victory for ballot security in Chicago!

2. Early Voting. A huge ruckus erupted at one Early Voting site in Chicago in the 2010 General Election, in the 35th Ward (Logan Square).

It was based on concerns that correct procedures were not being followed by the site supervisor.

Chicago GOP Chairman Eloise Gerson was a near-daily visitor at the the 35th Ward site to inspect the voting, and I myself was forced to spend many hours poll watching there in October 2010 to keep things on the straight and narrow.

As a result of that situation, and a resulting further investigation by Defend the Vote and the Chicago Republican Party, sharp concern was raised over the fact that the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners only used employees to run Early Voting sites, not actual sworn and qualified Election Judges.

The employees are not required to meet the qualifications of Election Judges.

The concern was only heightened when it was discovered in an investigation in late 2010 and early 2011 that foreign national employees of the Board were acting as supervisors and clerks at Early Voting sites, frequently deciding if U.S. citizens could vote or not.

One such employee was the very Supervisor at the 35th Ward Early Voting Site who was the center of the controversy in 2010.

Later in 2011, Chairman Gerson issued a lengthy letter to the Board detailing our findings and demanding that the Board scrap the use of employees (though legally permitted under the Election Code), to use only qualified and sword Election Judges at Early Voting sites.

The Board has agreed to make key changes.

• First, the Board has agreed that no foreign national Board employees will be assigned to work at Early Voting sites.
• Second, one Democratic and one Republican Election Judge will be present at each Early Voting site, with full power to make complaint and demand action by the Board and its field investigators, as a check on abuses at Early Voting sites.

We see this as a major improvement in the integrity of the Early Voting system!

3. Electronic Voting and Electronic Vote Counting. This was a lengthy and open discussion at the Board Meeting.

Sharon expressed the substantial overall concerns of DTV with electronic voting (which is banned in many countries, such as Germany) based on possible ease of tampering, giving specific examples of what we see as flaws in the current system.

The Board would not agree that electronic voting was demonstrably insecure, but agreed to continued discussion with DTV to air and investigate the matters we have raised, which run into key specifics of current machine operation, as well as known examples and testimony regarding the ease of computer tampering with vote counts.

The City and Cook County have invested heavily in new electronic systems, so substantial evidence of flaws will be required.

This must be considered a work in progress.

In all, we believe the Board has made concrete, important and genuine steps to address ballot security concerns.

Just as importantly, the Board welcomed constructive engagement with DTV on the issues we have raised.

As Chairman of Defend The Vote, at the close of the public discussion I rose and thanked the Commissioners not only for the important improvements implemented for 2012, but also for their openness to dialogue and suggestions.

There is far to go, as several important areas of concern and investigation remain to be explored.

But this was a great start and a very good day for Chicago voters!

Algonquin Township’s Sharon Meroni challenged the candidates running for legislative office in her part of the state, just as she challenged the candidacies of various judges, including Independent Sally Wiggins’ during the last election cycle.

Her most recent action is to drop the three candidates for State Representative to fill Mark Beaubien’s seat starting in 2013, but to continue the challenge of State Senator Dan Duffy’s and his Democratic Party counterpart Amanda Howland’s right to be on the ballot. Both are unopposed in the primary election.

She is seeking administrative review in a case entitled Meroni V ISBE, filed in Cook County Tuesday.

“Our suit seeks to get at the underlying Constitutional issues with as little disruption to the different candidate campaigns as possible,” Meroni explained.

“The underlying issue is that the US and Illinois Constitution requires citizenship, but there is no process where the candidate’s citizenship qualifications are entered into the public record,” she explained.

“Consequently, we [at Defend the Vote] believe that infringes on my right to vote.”

“We are prepared to take this all the way to the Supreme Court,” she concluded.

Here’s the scoop from Defend the Vote‘s Sharon Merconi:

“The past couple of days were very busy!

“As workers in the political field know all too well, the period just after filing for the ballot is a crazy time in the election cycle.”

Here’s what happened last Wednesday with Meroni, Cleveland and Boulton v Obama:

[It] “is a direct challenge to Mr. Obama’s application for ballot placement in the March 20, 2012 Illinois Primary, based on defects in his signature petitions. The Objectors withdrew their challenge on Wednesday January 25th.

“President Obama’s filed application for the Illinois Primary was surprisingly sloppy, as the signature petitions had numerous defects.

“The President filed the maximum limit of 5000 signatures, and needed 3000 valid ones to get on the Illinois ballot.

“By law, petitions must be consecutively numbered; he had a 20 page gap.

“Some petitions were missing the circulator signature, and some were not notarized.

“More importantly, our preliminary review indicated a higher than expected number of signatures were not by registered Illinois voters, as is required.

“Only this objection would attack enough signatures to potentially keep Mr. Obama off the ballot.

“The others were valid, but insufficient in scope of signatures to block him from the ballot.

“Bottom line, he must have 3000 valid signatures out of 5000 filed, and we had only 7 calendar days to conduct a review.

“Right off the bat, we lost two days by the fact that our order for ballot petitions was ‘mishandled’ by the ISBE.

“Near the close of business on Friday, January 6, 2012, we received 60 disks of ballot petitions of various candidates as requested, but upon return to the office we found that the disk for Barack Obama’s petitions was . . . BLANK!!!

“The difference was crucial to our efforts to review the Obama petitions with a sound and double-checked database analysis. As it was, we filed the Objection to the Obama petitions with seven minutes to spare at 4:53 pm on January 13, 2012.

“During the records review of the petition signatures, held at Illinois State Board of Election offices in downtown Chicago, ISBE clerks called ‘Checkers,’ rule on each challenged voter signature on a line by line basis though comparison with ISBE records on computer screens.

“In this case, over 3,000 individual reviews had to occur.

“On respective sides of the Checker are single representatives of each party, who notes each ruling, and asserts the party’s position.

“After six hours of checking at eight computer terminals, a substantial ongoing effort by 40 Board employees and volunteers, we determined in the final stages of the records check that Mr. Obama had reclaimed sufficient signatures to cross the 3000 mark required for ballot placement.

“Through close review and extensive use of pocket calculators, we had to face the mathematical reality that the President was certain to prevail on the challenge, and consequently instructed our counsel to file papers to withdraw the Objection to avoid using additional hours of effort and time.

“No further action will follow.”