I want to clarify a few things regarding the issue of the order of candidates on the ballot for the City of Urbana.  First, the problems have been exacerbated by the lack of communication between the City Clerk and our office.  I have not received one call from the City Clerk regarding this problem.

I first heard of this potential problem less than two weeks ago.  I received a call from Rex Bradfield and a subsequent visit from Durl Kruse.  At about the same time, I received a phone message from Mayor Prussing.  This was the first time that I received any notification that was even remotely official about this issue.  I immediately called the Mayor back to inform her of the law and that my office had followed proper procedures.

I received a call from the City Attorney on Monday of last week, and immediately agreed to meet with him.  I informed him of the decision that I had arrived at on the previous Friday.  That was that I would print new ballots if I received a new certification.  I also informed him of the difficulties involved in creating new ballots but that I had every confidence in my staff’s ability to accomplish this if necessary.  I also told him that time was of the essence when it came to saving money.  The later we waited to make any changes, the more expensive it might become.  I specifically mentioned our statutory requirement to publish a specimen ballot.  I also told him that the votes of all absentee voters would be cast according to their wishes and that no one would be disenfranchised.  I also said that I did not see any statutory provisions requiring the City to pay for the costs of this mistake, but I thought it would be appropriate for them to do so.  I asked that we be called immediately when the City Clerk had made her decision so that we could make plans.

I truly expected a call within the day.  When no call was forthcoming for three days, we called the City Attorney on Thursday and learned that the decision had been made to not conduct a lottery.   When I learned that this matter was going to court,  I supplied an affidavit to the plaintiffs which laid out important information for the judge to consider in making a decision on this matter.

I was hoping for a call that a hearing had been scheduled on Friday and was disappointed when I didn’t receive one.  It was not until Saturday morning when I read the newspaper that I learned that the City Clerk had decided to hold a lottery.

I think it is worth pointing out here that this one week additional and unnecessary delay cost taxpayers at least an additional $5,000.  In an effort to save money this year, we decided to forego a full specimen publication in the News-Gazette, instead opting to use two rural papers.  Now, because of this last minute change, and the necessity to get a valid publication in a paper in the County, we are going to have to do the News-Gazette advertisement after all since it is the only newspaper with a publication deadline after the drawing.  If the City had moved quickly with the plan they are now implementing, we could have changed the publications in the rural papers in time to meet our statutory obligations.

As it is, the total cost for this mistake will be anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000.  I don’t believe I have any recourse within the law to recover that money from the city, but I will send them a bill and ask them to pay what the citizens of this County rightfully should expect of them.

Finally, in the Saturday morning news article, Mayor Prussing is quoted as saying that I should have told the City Clerk about this problem.  I learned about the problem from Prussing and had no knowledge, and could not have had any knowledge of the situation, prior to that phone call.  I had hearsay allegations from partisan political candidates in the day or two prior to my call from the mayor, but to suggest that I knew about this in January is an outright lie.

Throughout this whole process my office and I have been cooperative.  I have returned calls promptly and met with those who have concerns.  I have assured all that my staff is ready to tackle this daunting task and that no one who has already voted will be disenfranchised.  And while I believe the city should pay for this mistake, I have never made their payment a prerequisite for moving forward on this issue.

Our office has followed the law and done everything correctly in this process.  We intend to work hard to resolve this problem.  The suggestion by the mayor that we did anything improper is shameful.

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