Chicago's LSC Elections: "We don’t know how many voters were disenfranchised."

A new report compiled by Chicago Lawyers’ Committee and Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education details some of the problems with this year’s Local School Council (LSC) elections and recommendations for improvement.

On Wednesday, December 16, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee Legal Fellow Evelyn Field spoke before the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education. These were her comments:

“Hello, my name is Evelyn Field. I am an attorney with Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. I’m here to discuss the 2020 Local School Council Elections.

In the weeks and months leading up to the LSC elections, we worked with community partners in advocating for a safe, fair, and accessible election process. Among other things, we asked CPS to clearly communicate its election plans to the public, and to address obstacles to mail-in voting. Through our non-partisan voter protection hotline, we heard of multiple issues with voting on November 18th and 19th. For example, several schools had no-show election judges without a backup plan. Ineligible staff or untrained persons filled in for election judges, creating further problems.

On December 1st, when ballots were counted, our hotline again lit up. At one school, the election judge rejected an overwhelming majority of the ballots cast. We understand that CPS later instigated a recount for less than half of these ballots. However, the rest were never reexamined, for reasons that are unclear. Voters were not notified or given due process to challenge the rejection. We don’t know how many voters were disenfranchised because of rejected mail-in ballots citywide, because our FOIA requests were denied.

We appreciate CPS’ efforts to adopt mail-in ballots and widespread curbside voting during a pandemic. Mail-in ballots are a crucial tool for making voting more accessible. We urge CPS to improve the process with clear rules that follow best practices for other Illinois elections. Improving the way Election Judges are assigned and trained can also prevent many issues we saw this year. Finally, transparency and public communication are key to building public trust in these elections. This, in turn, will encourage participation in future elections. Thank you.”