The Bloomington Election Commission plans to begin mailing supplemental mail-in ballots starting next Monday to about 9,000 voters whose initial ballots mistakenly omitted two judicial retention questions.
BEC Executive Director Tim Mitchell said Thursday the commission's request for an emergency order to issue the supplemental ballots was denied because the court said it wasn't necessary. The Sixth Judicial Circuit court in DeWitt County said the commission has broad authority under election law to conduct elections and that no one was objecting to the move.
“This plan gives every voter who was impacted an opportunity to cast a vote on the Eleventh Circuit Court judicial retention questions,” Mitchell said.
Retention questions for judges Jennifer Bauknecht and Matthew Fitton were left off ballots for most Bloomington voters, prompting the commission to temporarily suspend early voting for Bloomington residents at Grossinger Motors Arena.
Early voting resumed Monday after corrected ballots were printed.
The McLean County Clerk’s Office did not have incorrect ballots and continued early voting uninterrupted.
Mitchell said anyone who received a mail-in ballot missing the two retention questions, or who voted early prior to Oct. 2, will get a supplemental ballot that will include those two questions. He said voters can return the ballot via the mail, or at the ballot drop box at the McLean County Government Center.
Mitchell estimated the cost of the additional mailing to be $9,000.
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