Chambana Sun

The Danville Election Commission is under fire for leaving a Danville District 118 School Board race off the April 4 ballot.

The seat was later filled by a school board appointment.

"Danville is quickly gaining a reputation as a city that can't conduct its elections properly or in a fair and efficient manner. This is sure to only exacerbate that opinion,” Jason Richards told the Chambana Sun. "Why were the people of Danville denied the opportunity to fill this seat? Many will call this a deliberate attempt by District 118's School Board to silence the will of voters. But knowing the cast of characters in that outfit, I'm sure it's just sheer incompetence. It's really sad when you realize that these are the people responsible for educating our kids.”

Richards is wondering “What the Hell is going on in Danville?"

"Looks like a little too much of Chicago politics has rubbed off on District 118's Board!” he added.

The issue arose because the Danville Election Commission did not include the two-year term on the April 4 ballot, leaving one seat on the board vacant. Concerns were raised about the lack of clarity regarding the two-year term and the need for better communication from the board and Danville District 118 officials. Lisa Behrens, a resident, said "it's shameful" that the board and school district officials weren't explicit about the two-year term that had expired. Some residents and newly elected City Council Alderman Ed Butler suggested appointing Tierra Brown, who received the fourth-highest vote total, to fill the unexpired seat, according to Commercial-News.

However, others argued that the board cannot appoint someone to a vacancy that does not officially exist yet. Citizens expressed their discontent with the situation, emphasizing the importance of properly seating a new board member and the need for transparent procedures to avoid similar issues in the future. The board president acknowledged the error and apologized, stating that the board would rectify the situation and follow board policy.

During a May 10 Danville District 118 School Board meeting, the board reached a controversial conclusion regarding the unexpired two-year term of former board member Lon Henderson, who resigned in 2021. The district's attorney, Steve Richart, explained that a change in the state election code in 2013 reduced the board's requirements for disseminating information about elections. However, a mistake was made when Tyson Parks and Christopher Easton were sworn in, as it was not determined who would take Henderson's four-year term expiring in 2025 and who would take the term expiring in 2023. To rectify this, the outgoing board held an election and Parks was declared to have taken Henderson's seat.

When newly elected board members Kimberly Corley and Alice Payne were sworn in, Parks was allowed to participate in the vote on whether he could serve the final two years of Henderson's term as a holdover. Corley and Payne opposed this decision, while Darlene Halloran argued that Parks and Easton had signed papers stating their terms would end in 2023. Ultimately, the board voted to keep Parks on the board, with Shannon Schroeder, Pastor Thomas Miller and board president Dr. Randall Ashton supporting the decision. Vermillion County First reported that a public comment during the meeting criticized the board's handling of the issue, with some suggesting that the decision was based on personal preferences rather than following proper procedure.

The Danville Election Commission came under fire after an inconsistency found in mail-in ballots just before the April 4 election when a resident noticed that the return postage on his father's mail-in ballot was already stamped with a return date of March 27, even though the ballots were supposed to be processed and stamped by the U.S. Postal Service upon receipt. This raised concerns that the election commission would not be able to determine the actual postmark date of the ballots or whether they were postmarked by the deadline. Due to the use of permanent vote-by-mail lists, many have shared concerns about ballot harvesting and mail-in ballot integrity in Illinois. Illinois has faced past issues with mail-in ballots in the state, including allegations of improper verification and the potential for fraud, a previous report from Chambana Sun noted.