As the former Logan County clerk, state Sen. Sally Turner, R-Beason, wants there to be more public trust around elections and counting votes. Turner is introducing legislation to make election processes more transparent and open to the public.
Senate Bill 1326, also sponsored by state Sens. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, and Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, would create additional training for election judges, change the voter verification process and create a procedure to audit mail-in ballots. It s about adding standardized practices that will increase transparency to our state s election office, Turner said.
After an election, the State Board of Elections would be required to audit 5% of the state s election authorities to see how they handled processing mail-in ballots.
Pekin Daily Times
The Tazewell County Clerk s Office will be the first in the state to begin providing certified copies of marriage licenses electronically, officials there announced Tuesday. This comes in handy for many forms of identification which require certified copies, County Clerk John Ackerman said at a news conference announcing the service, which begins May 1. It especially comes in handy for Real ID when people are required to have that and may live outside Tazewell County.
The original deadline for getting a Real ID necessary for air travel or to get into most U.S. government buildings and military bases was Oct. 1 of this year, but was pushed back Tuesday to May of 2023.
Tim Shelley / Peoria Public Radio
Starting May 1, the Tazewell County Clerk s Office will offer certified marriage license copies online.
The office is the first in Illinois, and among the first in the U.S., to offer the service, according to County Clerk John Ackerman. So if you ve been married in Tazewell County, you can pull up an e-certified document for your marriage license for various purposes. Insurance purposes, IDs for Social Security, ID s for driver s license bureau. So that way, you wouldn t have to come into our office, said Dan Sullivan, Tazewell County s chief deputy clerk.
Currently, e-certify is available just for marriage licenses, but there are also plans to offer it for birth certificates eventually.