DuPage Looking To Merge Election Commission With County Clerk
CHICAGO (CBS) -- DuPage County officials said they are fine-tuning a plan to merge their election commission with the county clerk's office.
County clerks manage election operations in Lake and Will counties, and the Cook County suburbs, as well as many other counties in Illinois, but DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin said his merger proposal would preserve bipartisan oversight.
"DuPage Election Commission is managed and governed by a bipartisan three-member board, and so I don't want to simply discard that model. I want to improve that," she said.
DuPage County Election Commission Chairperson Cathy Terrill said the move won't simply combine the two offices.
"It's actually a hybrid model, and it would be under the direction of the office of the county clerk, and so we will be able to reduce some of the management and administrative positions," she said.
Cronin said the proposal is still being fine-tuned to preserve the structure of a panel as well.
"We're trying to come up with a hybrid; saving what we think is one of the best parts of the election commission in its current form, and that is the bipartisan oversight. In fact, we're even suggesting that we should expand that. There should be additional representation at less cost," he said.
Cronin said staff at the new election office would be reduced through attrition. The Illinois General Assembly would have to approve the proposed changes.
