Consolidated General Election and Early Voting

The Consolidated General Election is Tuesday, April 6th, 2021. Early voting begins for everybody March 12th, (after the primary election results are certified). There are some folks who can Vote Early now if they weren't eligible to vote in a primary (outside of Champaign or Cunningham precincts). There is an explanation on Smile Politely here for Early Voting eligibility dates. You can also request your Vote By Mail Ballot here on the Champaign County Clerk's website.

The News-Gazette highlighted an extremely helpful election information resource and non-partisan candidate guide in today's paper here. It's put together by the Champaign County Voter Alliance in collaboration with the local League of Women Voters. From that News-Gazette coverage:

Want to know what Champaign City Council candidates are thinking ahead of the upcoming consolidated election? Wondering about the most pressing needs for the Urbana Park District?

...

Starting March 2 and continuing to March 11, the League is conducting a series of candidate forums on Zoom.

"The League has a really important role in today's democracy," said Trisha Crowley, president of the Champaign County chapter. "Being a nonpartisan organization, we talk with Democrats and Republicans and try to support our mission, which is to provide information to voters."

Full blurb here. More information at the League of Women Voters of Champaign County website here and links to the previous primary candidate forums here. The Champaign County Clerk has a simple list of the candidate's running on their website here: Meet the Candidates. Note that there are several write-in candidates who may be running in your local races at the bottom of the listed candidates! One Urbana Park District board candidate withdrew from the race already. From a letter to the editor in today's News-Gazette:

If you're like most people, you probably weren't even aware that we just had an election this week. Some only noticed when all the headlines and coverage exploded at once upon the election results themselves. It was a consolidated primary election for municipal offices and it had some painfully low turnout. From WCIA earlier this week:

5,127 out of approximately 68,000 eligible voters, that’s just over 7.5%, cast a ballot in Champaign County’s primary elections.

“This was actually lower for Urbana than it was in 2017,” County Clerk Aaron Ammons said. “It’s unsettling and it needs to change.”

...

“Unfortunately, turnout in the primary consolidated elections and general elections usually see this type of turnout in Champaign County,” Ammons said.

That full article here. The News-Gazette had more coverage on the turnout here. 

You'll likely be hard pressed to find anyone who likes the timing of these local consolidated elections. The candidate calendar is even more bonkers as the work to get on the ballot begins before the previous giant even-year general election is over. So why do we do it? Well, according to this twenty year old news story from the year 2001 (oof!):

Before 1982, each unit of Illinois government held its own election, where and when it chose. With consolidated elections, mandated by the state in 1982, elections are set in the same places on the same dates, rotating local races with general elections for county, state and federal government offices...

The goals of holding a consolidated election were to increase voter turnout and save money by doing it all at once.

"Neither has happened," [Whiteside County Clerk Dan Heusinkveld] said.

Full article here. Changes would have to occur at the State level and it may be difficult to find agreement on what might actually increase awareness or interest... a better date? Better outreach? Better civics education? I leave that to the reader to decide.

Preliminary and Unofficial Primary Election Results

There are still some mail-in ballots that may be on their way in that could be counted, but here are the preliminary and unofficial election results for the Champaign and Urbana so far:

Champaign County unofficial results from the County Clerk website here.

The Champaign County Clerk also has an early listing for the April 6th, 2021 Consolidated General Election candidates here.

Illinois Newsroom had an overview of the Urbana, Champaign and Decatur races with a preview for the general municipal election on April 6th.

WCIA had a highlight of the Urbana Mayor's race here and other local race results listed here.

Smile Politely had informational blurbs up on individual races:

Urbana:

• Urbana Mayoral primary: Diane Marlin defeated Andy Ma, Dennis Roberts
• Urbana City Clerk primary: Phyllis Clark defeated Titianna Ammons

• Urbana Ward 1 primary: Maryalice Wu defeated Jake Fava
• Urbana Ward 2 primary: Christopher Evans defeated Erik Sacks, Christopher Hansen
• Urbana Ward 3 primary: Shirese Hursey defeated Deborah Liu
• No Ward 4 primary (early general election candidate information here) 
• Urbana Ward 5 primary: Chaundra Bishop defeated Meghan McDonald
• No Ward 6 primary (early general election candidate information here) 
• Urbana Ward 7 primary: James Quisenberry defeated Jared Miller

Champaign:

• Champaign Township Supervisor primary: Andy Quarnstrom defeated Rita Conerly

C-U Candidate Forums - UPDATED

Early voting has already begun for the February 23rd Consolidated Primary Election and there is a lot of information available on the candidates available now. Below are links to a non-partisan candidate guide, candidate forum videos, and election information on how to register, early voting options, etc.

Non-Partisan Candidate Guide from the Champaign County Voters Alliance in cooperation with the League of Women Voters of Champaign County.

The League of Women Voters of Champaign County (along with the local NAACP and the News-Gazette) have several Candidate Forum videos on-line for Champaign and Urbana municipal candidates.

Urbana Alderman Candidate Forum videos:

• Urbana Ward 1
• Urbana Ward 2
• Urbana Ward 3
• Urbana Ward 5
• Urbana Ward 7

Other Consolidated Primary Election candidate forums:

• Urbana City Mayor

WILL and Illinois Newsroom had additional Urbana Mayoral coverage of the Democratic primary here and here. The News-Gazette also had an overview of the Urbana Mayoral candidates here.

• Urbana City Clerk
• Champaign Township Supervisor

There were also two People's City Council candidate forums so far:

• On Ending Chronic Homelessness: 

The discussion focused mainly on eradicating homelessness and included questions and responses from the public. Write-in candidate for Champaign City Council District 3 Justin Micháel Hendrix facilitated the meeting. Incumbents Jared Miller (Urbana City Council Ward 7) and Clarissa Nickerson Fourman (Champaign City Council District 1) participated. WCIA had a short overview:

They all agreed homeless is something that can end and that having a roof over your head is a fundamental to human life.

“Estimates show that Champaign County had over 5 thousand vacant rental units in 2019. Whereas Champaign County counted 140 hut homeless community members in 2020,” Hendrix said.

Some of the suggestions included permanent housing — not just shelters. They also said access to resources for jobs and other necessities could help.

That full blurb is available here. The conversation referred to a Cunningham Township report that had a lot of data on local housing, affordability, and poverty available on the Township website here.

• On Defunding the Police on 2/4:

WCIA also had coverage of that event here.

They’re a group of activists who were involved with Champaign County’s anti-racist coalition. Many took part in protests, demonstrations and community outreach projects over the summer.

Thursday night’s Q&A focused on defunding the police and its implications...

Their next discussion will take place on February 18th. In that discussion, the council will discuss ideas on how to tackle domestic violence in the city.

Full WCIA article and video segment here. Video of the event is available on facebook here. The Daily Illini had additional coverage here.

• The third People's City Council event was on Closing Gaps in Domestic Violence Survivor Support and available on the Central Illinois News facebook page here.

Smile Politely asked the Urbana candidates their thoughts about improving and enforcing the nuisance laws in Urbana here.

General election candidate forums are already in the planning stages. Update on that in the News-Gazette here. 

Voting Information:

The Champaign County Voters Alliance has a helpful page for voters here. The Champaign County Clerk has official election information here.

Currently the only Early Voting location is at Brookens Administrative Center (Maps!). Other Early Voting locations will be opening closer to the election on February 15th. All Early Voting locations and times available here.

The Champaign County Voters Alliance has a Candidate Guide in collaboration with the local League of Women Voters available here.

The County Clerk's office has several helpful links on its website:

• My Voting Information
• Meet the Candidates (note there are some write-in candidates this election)
• Vote by Mail Ballot Request
• My Registration Status

Sample ballots are available here. There is additional candidate information for voters on the County Clerk's unofficial Meet the Candidates page.

[Originally posted on 1/23/2021 at 1:21pm. Updated with additional candidate forum information and links 2/7/21 at 10:56am and 2/20/21 at 3:59pm.]