PEKIN, Ill. – Tazewell’s County Clerk is claiming a local newspaper is stirring up controversy with regards to mail-in ballots for November’s elections.
Wednesday’s edition of the Peoria Journal Star placed a nationally-written article on its front page regarding the effects an executive order in March from President Trump will have on mail-in ballots. The article came from USA Today, whose parent company, USA Today Co., owns the Journal Star.
The article cites a federal whistleblower who calls the process to implement the executive order “secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed.” U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, says in a prepared report with the whistleblower’s concerns that major disruptions could occur with mail-in balloting.
The report comes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower-court injunction on August 24th that blocked the executive order.
WMBD Radio reached out to editors at the Peoria Journal Star for comment about the article, but has yet to receive a response.
Ackerman blasted the publication of the article in a local regional newspaper, calling it “misinformation.” He says it causes a disservice to voters in Tazewell County and central Illinois.
“I see no need to worry residents, to scare them, attempt to cause chaos by innuendo, by guesstimation that there is chaos in our system when there is not,” Ackerman said.
Ackerman says he did discuss the article with the editor of the Journal Star and raised his concerns with the publication, saying that he believed the article’s headline was “inappropriate.”
In addition, Ackerman blasted the usage of a whistleblower and Blumenthal as sources for the article, saying that posts and articles such as those cast more doubt in voters’ minds.
Peoria County Election Commission Executive Director Jessily Joseph reacted to the article as well. Joseph says there are many moving pieces at this time with regards to federal oversight of mail-in ballots, but believes the article’s intention was to keep people informed. Joseph did concur with Ackerman that a local perspective on the topic was needed.
Both Ackerman and Joseph did state that mail-in balloting is proceeding as normal before ballots are sent out on September 24th.
As for federal standards being implemented, Ackerman says his office and the state of Illinois are exceeding what is being implemented nationwide. He says that includes tracking ballots throughout the entire system.
Comments