Election Day this year is supposed to be a holiday for public employees in Illinois.
But which ones?
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has decreed that it’s for “all government offices.” But the legislation on which he’s based that declaration is unclear.
That’s why local municipal officials are uncertain how to proceed on Nov. 3.
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” said Donna Pittman, director of the Champaign Public Library. “I don’t know what to do.”
Champaign Mayor Deb Feinen is equally uncertain, saying “public entities need more information” from the powers that be.
The problem, according to Champaign city attorney Fred Stavins, is that the election law legislators passed in haste a couple months ago is “not precisely written.”
“It doesn’t give direction,” he said.
That’s why the Springfield-based Illinois Municipal League filed a lawsuit in Sangamon County against the Illinois State Elections Board on behalf of the villages of Bolingbrook and Southern View that seeks a judicial interpretation as to whether the Election Day holiday applies to municipalities.
Brad Cole, the municipal league’s executive director, said the lawsuit is “not meant to be antagonistic.” Instead, he said, it’s the result of frustration generated by seeking answers from a variety of official sources and not getting any.
“We couldn’t not get an answer, and we need an answer,” he said. “All of this could have been avoided if we’d gotten an answer when we asked.”
The State Elections Board does not comment on pending litigation.
At the same time, the Illinois attorney general’s office has tried to avoid the issue altogether by running out the clock.
After the lawsuit was filed
Aug. 29, the attorney general’s office waited the maximum 30 days before filing a response that sought a two-week delay in answering.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office then asked Judge Raylene Grischow not to rule on a summary-judgment motion to resolve the dispute until Oct. 26, a week before the election.
Municipal league attorneys objected, noting that an Oct. 26 ruling “would not leave time for municipalities to plan for Nov. 3 as a holiday or a working day.”
The judge ultimately decided to set an Oct. 15 hearing date. The municipal league is asking the court to rule that municipalities are not covered by the state law.
The law states that Nov. 3 is a “legal school holiday for purposes of the School Code, State universities Civil Service Act,” but does not reference municipalities. State employees already get Election Day off.
During floor debate, a sponsor — Rep. Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park — said the proposal would “extend it to schools and the university civil service.” She did not mention municipalities.
Cole said the municipal league would like to avoid the financial burden of a mandated day off. Not only would municipal offices be forced to pay employees for not working, they would also have to provide compensation for police and firefighters who must be on duty.
Cole said it would cost taxpayers “hundreds of thousands of dollars” on a statewide basis that need not be expended.
Another objection to the proposal is that it violates the home-rule rights of municipalities like Champaign and Urbana. Home-rule units have the authority to establish their own employee work and holiday schedules.
The state can pre-empt that authority with legislation if it wishes to do so in special situations. But if the state does so, it must specifically disclose the pre-emption, something legislators failed to do in this instance.
The holiday proposal was part of a bigger legislative proposal that established mail-in voting, the rules applying only to the Nov. 3 election.
That’s another burr under the saddle of local officials.
Between mail-in voting, absentee voting, early voting and Election Day voting, they said a paid day off is not necessary to make it easier for people to vote.
“I think it’s important to encourage people to vote,” Feinen said. “But we have so many options right now.”
Pittman agreed, saying that “I just don’t understand why (a holiday) is necessary.”
“We have things going on at the library,” she said.
Cole attributed the problem to the decision to rush a poorly drafted bill through the Legislature. Now, he said, no one in charge is willing to address the issue.
He said he tried to contact the bill’s two sponsors to get an answer. Neither responded in writing. Pittman said she, too, tried unsuccessfully to get some explanation from a local legislator.
The legal question is not complicated. No facts are in dispute, so all the judge will have to do is read the statute and decide how it applies.
The Link LonkSeptember 21, 2020 at 01:00AM
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Jim Dey | Which government workers get a holiday for election? - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette
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