Kane County Clerk John Cunningham said Monday he is looking at ways to handle Aurora elections if a referendum concerning the elimination of the Aurora Election Commission passes. Still, Cunningham was adamant in saying that even though he is an Aurora resident, he does not have a public opinion either way. “It’s not up to the county clerk to be involved in this,” he said. “It’s up to the people.” Cunningham said with a movement afoot to put a referendum question on the March 2018 ballot asking voters to eliminate the election commission, he needs to look at what might happen if voters approve it. An informal group of residents has been passing petitions seeking about 1,000 signatures they would need to put the question on the ballot. If they succeed, state statute mandates that Aurora voters be asked the question: “Shall the city election law be rejected?”
The election commission was created by referendum in 1934 and can only be eliminated by referendum.
Cunningham said handling Aurora’s elections would be similar to how the clerk’s office handles elections in Elgin, the next-largest city in the county. The county clerk would inherit about 70 new precincts from Aurora.
“I think we can handle it pretty well,” Cunningham said.
He added that he doubts he could afford to buy all new equipment for Aurora that is similar to what the county uses. So the county would, at least at first, “run the city equipment with ours.”
Full Article: Kane clerk looks at ways to handle Aurora elections – Aurora Beacon-News.