Chambana Sun

State Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) is calling for electoral reform following the Nov. 8 election.

“It is imperative we provide Illinois residents with the assurance that their votes are not being invalidated by fraudulent activity,” Halbrook told Chambana Sun. 

“There should be bipartisan support for election integrity efforts. The fact that people have doubts about the validity of election results is a sad commentary on where we are as a society. There are common sense ways of fixing the problem and it is time we took those steps.” 

“Counties like St. Clair County and Jackson in the southern part of the state have been historically slow in getting election results in a timely manner and this election was no exception. Time and time again when we see slow election results trickling in the Democratic candidates end up winning very close elections. Every time there are new ballots found or irregularities in the voting, it is found to always benefit one political party: the Democratic Party. How does that happen? The law of averages would suggest that these anomalies would benefit Republicans at least close to 50 percent of the time but that is not the case. It all adds up to distrust in the electoral process. We need to implement reforms and restore trust in our electoral process.” 

“We need Voter ID laws to prevent potential fraud. We need to get rid of ballot drop boxes which make it easier for people to commit fraud. Also, we need to get rid of voting machines and return exclusively to paper ballots.”

Halbrook’s remarks follow a 2022 election that was full of mistakes and oversights. 

Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst), a state legislator, questioned the DuPage County Clerk's methods and the court issued a temporary restraining order against the clerk on her behalf "improperly using Vote by Mail applications to validate a voter's signature on a Vote by Mail ballot." 

Mazzochi brought up the court's decision "using a Vote by Mail application to qualify signatures on the Vote by Mail ballot itself would be an obvious way to commit ballot fraud."

There are other instances as well, such as the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate Kath Salvi, whose name was omitted from the Schuyler County ballot.  

At the time of the error, Halbrook asserted that in all of his years in politics, he had never encountered a ballot error of this magnitude. 

“I have never seen an error of this magnitude on a ballot. This is a serious mistake,” he said.

“Absolutely, we should be concerned about this. It is not just the Senate race at stake here. Other races could be affected. What if there is a close local election? What if these ballots are determined to be invalid because of the error? There could be all kinds of repercussions from the mistake made on these ballots. There needs to be a viable solution to correct the error.”

A recent influx of late votes that altered the outcomes of three Will County races a week after the election is also fueling calls for election reform. 

On election night, Republican challenger Jim Reilly led Democrat incumbent Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley, Republican Joliet Attorney Bob Bodach trailed Democratic incumbent Treasurer Tim Brophy, and Republican opponent Raj Pillai trailed Democratic Associate Judge Jessica Colon-Sayre. 

Some others questioned the timing of the Democrat vote rise after the November 8 election. 

“Over 6400 vote by mail votes dropped in Will County today. A full week after Election Day. Changing the results of multiple races. And people wonder why confidence in the system is being lost,” Safe Suburbs USA PAC said on Twitter. Ferry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Will County Gazette.