McLean County Republican and Libertarian parties jointly filed an estimated 1,300 signatures Monday in support of a referendum to dissolve the Bloomington Election Commission.
At least 1,000 valid signatures are needed for Bloomington election ballots to include the referendum. It would read, “Shall the city election law be rejected?”
McLean County Republican Chairman Connie Beard said there are plans to educate the public on this phrase before election day.
“Admittedly, it’s going to take us a little bit of effort,” She said. “But as we were circulating the petitions, once we took a moment to explain what that verbiage meant, people went, ‘Oh, yeah, okay, that makes sense.’ So, we are hopeful.”
Beard said she trusts Bloomington voters to understand the necessity of this referendum.
“Our voters are intelligent enough that they will understand once it’s put into context what the steps need to be to make the process happen,” she said.
In order for the County Clerk's office to take over, she said, the Bloomington commission must first be dissolved.
Beard said the county’s Democratic Party does not support the referendum, but that registered democrats signed petitions.
“I’m very glad to have the GOP’s help with this initiative.” McLean County Libertarian Party Chairman Steve Suess said in an emailed statement. “With nearly half the petitions coming from Libertarians, this truly has been a bipartisan effort.”
Beard said they are in the process of uploading petitions electronically.
The League of Women Voters several years ago proposed creating a county wide bipartisan election commission instead of having a partisan clerk oversee elections. In either case, the first step would be to eliminate the Bloomington Election Commission.
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