Sharon Chung
A newly drawn district is giving two newcomers a chance for a statehouse seat this November.
But in Bloomington-Normal, they’re no strangers to the community.
Democrat Sharon Chung and Republican Scott Preston each secured commanding leads in their respective primary races. To win the new 91st District of the Illinois House, however, they’ve had to reach outside their home base.
Chung, a professional musician who teaches and performs the violin and viola, has been a McLean County Board member since her election in 2018, representing District 7 in Bloomington.
Preston, president of his real estate company Preston Property Group, is in his third term on the Normal Town Council, having been first elected in 2013.
They are vying for the newly drawn 91st District, which now includes parts of McLean, Woodford, Tazewell and Peoria counties, stretching from Bloomington-Normal to Bartonville just south of Peoria.
Calling it one of the most competitive district races in the state, Preston said the map boundaries show gerrymandering in the 2020 remapping process.
“This 91st District is the only way that the majority in Springfield could draw a map to try and to be competitive in. It was absolutely a politically-motivated drawing of the map,” he said.
The district extends along Interstate 74 and includes farmland and rural communities as well as the more “suburban-type” areas of the Twin Cities and East Peoria.
Both candidates said leaving their home communities to talk to potential future constituents to the west has been a great opportunity to make connections and gather feedback.
“I’ve been very intentional about building relationships over there, being present over there, and making sure that they know that I will work just as hard to be their representative, as I will people in Bloomington-Normal,” Preston said.
Chung noted during her time knocking on thousands of doors across the district, she has been met with difficult conversations.
“My hope is that people will see that, you know, if I’m working this hard, that’s how hard I work for our community if I am elected. And I’m not afraid to take tough questions; I’m not afraid to talk to people who have differing viewpoints from me,” she said. “… It’s been very encouraging, the response that we’ve gotten from them, that they do really believe in the message that we have, the things that we care about, and also maybe just ready to have a representative who’s a woman and maybe a person of color. Those are things that people, I think, are excited about.”
Chung is one of at least 22 Asian American candidates running for office in Illinois this cycle. If elected, she said she would be the first Asian member of the General Assembly elected outside the Chicagoland area.
“I’m really, really excited for this. It means a lot to me,” Chung said, though she noted she has not aimed to make that part of her platform.
Sharon Chung performs during an outdoor concert in a Normal neighborhood in May 2020.
“Just knowing that I know, I’ll stand up for other marginalized communities, me being from one myself, or just knowing that I’m going to stand up for women and working middle class people. It’s just who I am,” she said.
State economy
Preston said his conversations across the 91st have shown many people have similar concerns: “It’s the economy, it’s inflation, it’s taxes are too high, it’s corruption in Springfield and it’s safety. We want safe communities; we want taxes that are reduced; and we want to fight against the economic state of the state.”
As a small business owner, Preston said among his focuses, he wants to work toward “better economic policy to help foster an environment that promotes economic growth. We want more companies to come here and to grow here. We want jobs.”
He described Bloomington-Normal as an “in spite of” community.
“We’re fortunate that our local economy is very vibrant,” Preston said, noting the impact of Rivian Automotive in Normal. “The local community here is incredibly vibrant, and our local economy is strong in spite of the fact that we are in the state of Illinois. And time and again, one of the things that impacts us the most and holds us back is the fact that we’re in the state of Illinois, and state government for too long has had policies that are too burdensome, too expensive. And you’re seeing jobs and companies and, as a result, individuals leaving the state to go for more opportunities elsewhere.”
Chung highlighted the importance of investing in “high-paying, well-trained jobs, such as in the trades” to support the economy and providing relief for the working middle class.
She commended the existing state efforts to suspend the grocery and gas taxes, as well as property tax relief, while Illinoisans face high inflation.
“It’s honestly more of a nationwide issue, but trying to see what we can do here at home to help people out in a more immediate scale,” Chung said.
SAFE-T Act
The criminal justice reform law that eliminates Illinois’ cash bail system, mandates all police officers wear body cameras by 2025 and makes significant reforms to law enforcement use-of-force standards has been pulled into focus this election cycle.
House Bill 3653 has taken a few names since it was signed into law in early 2021, most recently the SAFE-T Act as an acronym for the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act.
The law has drawn criticism from conservatives, county prosecutors and law enforcement groups across the state. Preston is among those supporting its full repeal.
Scott Preston, Republican candidate for the 91st Illinois House District, speaks during an Oct. 3 news conference at which he criticized opponent Sharon Chung’s support for a graduated income tax.
“I think it’s clear that you even see the majority in Springfield admit that the SAFE-T Act is quite flawed, when they are all saying it needs to get changed as well and it was their legislation,” he said. “Their admission that it’s bad policy is as clear as anybody’s.”
Preston said he believes the SAFE-T Act would make communities less safe.
“We need to honor, we need to support, we need to make sure we provide the resources necessary to be effective for our first responders. Anything less is doing everybody an injustice,” he said.
Chung, a member of the McLean County Board Justice Committee, said having seen the negative effects of the cash bail system on people who could not afford to be released — “especially people of color, women, working people” — she believes the reform is necessary.
“And like with any sort of bill, I think, it does take maybe some tweaking, maybe some more conversations,” she said, adding that several law enforcement and victims advocacy groups took part in shaping the legislation before its passage.
Chung noted the law includes measures to fund and support law enforcement agencies across the state.
“Some of the things that I have been more interested in is to really make sure that (police) get the mental health help that they need,” she said. “I think that being a law enforcement officer is a very, very difficult job, and to make sure that they do get proper, adequate health care so that they can do their job and not suffer from burnout, that they are paid well for what they’re doing, putting their lives on the line. Those are things that I’m really interested in as well.”
Getting activated
Preston, who was born and raised in Bloomington-Normal, emphasized his long-term commitment to the community. He joined the town council at age 25 and been involved with organizations like United Way of McLean County and Illinois State University Alumni Association.
“There are some serious issues that require people who are focused on actually solving problems and helping people, not on the partisan politics of the day. That’s been my focus in Normal. That’s been my focus as a small business owner, and that will be my focus in the statehouse,” he said.
He said he hopes to bring a “no nonsense, no hyperbole” mindset to Springfield and cut through the “hyper-partisan” conditions to work to make Illinoisans’ lives better. People are tired, frustrated and confused by the contentious political environment, he said.
“At the end of the day, what service does that accomplish for the people who you’re asking to put their trust in you as the representative? What does it accomplish?” he said. … “I think being authentic and being real with people and talking about what’s actually going on, what the actual focus is, and not just more of the same Chicago-style bombastic politics is what people want. And frankly, what they deserve.”
Chung, who was part of a wave of Democrats who moved from advocacy to governance after former President Donald Trump’s election, said she’s been encouraged to see that momentum continue.
She said her strength lies in her ability to talk to anyone and “really advocate passionately about something I really feel strongly about.”
Chung said she supports abortion rights, having stood for women’s rights since her teen years, and said her two daughters are her driving force, at the forefront of everything she does.
“For me, being a working mom, and a working class, middle class mother, I think it’s just to be a sort of inspiration for them, showing that I can do this, and be able to talk about the things that I feel passionate about, the things that I know that government should do,” she said. “Having them be able to see that has been really inspiring, honestly, for me, too. They’re really just at the center of everything.”
What to expect at polling places this year
What to expect
This year’s midterms are playing out against the backdrop of former President Donald Trump’s persistent falsehoods about losing the 2020 election, a relentless campaign that will have implications for voters across the country as they cast their ballots.
The baseless claims and conspiracy theories have prompted new laws in several Republican-led states and sowed distrust of voting machines. They have led conservative groups sympathetic to Trump’s claims to challenge voters’ registration status and recruit observers and workers for polling places.
All this could complicate voting that is now underway in many states, through Election Day on Nov. 8. For most voters, casting a ballot is still likely to be trouble-free. But the new voting procedures and political dynamics since the last presidential election already are having an effect in some parts of the country.
Republican legislatures have created a variety of fresh restrictions on registration and voting. Trump’s refusal to accept his loss and the peddling of false claims by him and his allies have stirred anger among his supporters, and some of that has been channeled into harassment and even death threats directed toward election officials. On top of that, local election offices are still dealing with lingering fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This has led to unprecedented pressure on local election offices and a changed landscape to navigate for some of the nation’s 217 million registered voters. During the primaries, polling places were bedeviled by short staffing, ballot printing errors, aggressive poll watchers and even malware attacks on voting equipment.
Help is available to those who feel they are being harassed or kept from their right to vote. Whether voters are casting mailed or in-person ballots, here is what they can expect.
Staffing and poll worker shortages
A punishing stream of death threats, harassment and misinformation plaguing election workers has led many of them to throw in the towel. This has left many offices across the country short-staffed — and one in Texas completely unstaffed — as the Nov. 8 election nears.
Their added workload also includes responding to a flurry of public records requests and sweeping challenges to thousands of voters’ rights to cast ballots by activist groups who believe the 2020 election was stolen. Election officials have said most of those challenges are irrelevant, but some people still face questions about their eligibility when they try to vote.
Poll worker positions are often going unfilled, as the hassles of the job — long hours, low pay and a perceived increase in physical risk — outweigh the feeling of fulfilling a critical civic duty.
Election denial added to an already brewing crisis, as predominantly older poll workers declined to work during the coronavirus pandemic. An online poll worker tracker on the Ohio Secretary of State’s website indicated that more than half the state’s counties still needed volunteers as of this week, with early voting already underway.
Ballot issues
Errors on printed ballots are nothing new, but these perennial administrative snags promise to draw new scrutiny this fall amid heightened election tensions.
Printing errors marred primary elections in Oregon and Pennsylvania earlier this year, forcing local election officials to redo or recount thousands of mailed ballots. In Oregon, a Democratic state lawmaker called for an investigation into the fiasco, which delayed results in a U.S. House race in a state that has exclusively voted by mail for 23 years. The race was called 10 days later.
Issues have continued into the general election in some places. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, appointed a supervisor to oversee the election in Pueblo County, citing confusion by the clerk after some voters received ballots with an incorrect state House race and without a county commissioner race.
Voters also should be mindful that signature ID and deadline requirements for mail-in and absentee ballots may have changed in their states since the last election.
Federal law requires that voters who aren’t listed on official rolls but assert they are registered and eligible be offered provisional ballots.
Some election offices also might be dealing with supply chain problems affecting computer hardware or paper for ballots, although that did not emerge as a problem in the primaries.
Drop box drama
Ballot drop boxes remain a popular option for many voters, despite restrictions Republican-led legislatures have imposed on their number and location after 2020.
An AP analysis found no evidence that the receptacles are subject to widespread fraud, vandalism or theft, a claim promoted in the discredited film “2000 Mules.” Yet bands of “drop box monitors” have begun springing up around the U.S. to stake out the boxes and watch — they say — for nefarious activity.
The Arizona secretary of state’s office this week referred a report of voter intimidation to the U.S. Department of Justice and the state attorney general’s office after a Maricopa County voter said she was approached and followed while depositing her ballot in a drop box.
Polling place conflicts
Election officials will be watching out for newly aggressive poll watchers, who may seek to invade voters’ space as they vote or poll workers’ space as they help voters or prepare ballots for counting.
Poll watchers have been the traditional eyes and ears of the two major political parties, but a new crop who believe election conspiracy theories have signed up for duty. In some Republican-led states, they have been given more leeway to challenge voters or processes, creating an air of uncertainty as Election Day approaches.
Voters in some parts of the country may see more uniformed law enforcement officers at polling places, but not for traditional peace-keeping. Instead, promoters of Trump’s claims have floated the idea that county sheriffs can access voting machines and intervene in how elections are run. Some have pledged to do just that.
In response, voter advocacy organizations are planning a counter-presence in some states to support voters at the polls.
Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, said interfaith religious leaders trained in de-escalation techniques— dubbed “peacekeepers” — will be on call during early voting and on Election Day “to help bring the temperature down.”
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division also has said it is monitoring for violations of election laws that prohibit discrimination or intimidation of voters based on race, color, national origin, religion or language. Violence or threats of violence or intimidation against any voter at a polling place should first be reported to police via 911, then to the department at 1-800-253-3931 or https://civilrights.justice.gov/.
In addition, a nonpartisan coalition of voting rights groups is providing assistance to voters across the country on Election Day and during early voting where that occurs. Election Protection runs the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline, which connects voters with individuals who can provide guidance when encountering problems at the polls.
Groups include the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Common Cause.
Watching for machine tampering
Officials and security experts will also be on high alert for tampering with electronic voting machines and poll books, amid heightened concern that conspiracy theories related to the 2020 presidential election could inspire some voters or even election workers to meddle with equipment.
An election worker in Michigan was charged with two crimes in September after a witness reported seeing him place a USB flash drive into an electronic poll book at the close of the state’s Aug. 2 primary. A similar incident in Colorado, thought to be caused by a voter, forced poll workers to take a machine out of use during that state’s primary.
Any such attempt would likely be unsuccessful in altering votes, but taking machines out of service could lead to longer waits and frustration for voters.
Miami tests voting equipment ahead of mid-term
Why election results may not be known right away
Why we don’t always have results on election night: Intro
It’s the night of the election. Polls have been closed for hours. Why don’t Americans know the winners?
In 2020, President Donald Trump proclaimed that the lack of final results on election night could be an indicator of something nefarious and used it to assert without evidence that the election was stolen: “We don’t want them to find any more ballots at 4 o’clock in the morning and add them to the list,” he said.
In reality, however, results released on election night are unofficial and always incomplete. They inevitably change as more ballots are counted.
Unlike in many countries, elections in the U.S. are highly decentralized, complex and feature long lists of races, from president and Congress all the way down to local measures and town council seats. Some states give local election offices several weeks before Election Day to process mailed ballots, including checking signatures and verifying ID information. In other states, that process can’t start until Election Day or shortly before, meaning those ballots might not get counted until the next day or even later.
Here’s why results are not always known the night of an election.
Should we know the winners before going to bed?
Republicans in particular have pointed to perceived delays in knowing results as a reason to be suspicious about the integrity of elections.
“We’ve got to get our elections reformed so that every Arizonan, whether they be Democrat, Independent, or Republican, when they go to bed on Election Night they know the winner and they’re satisfied that it was a fair election. We don’t have that right now,” Kari Lake, the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for governor in Arizona, said in August on Twitter.
Not knowing the winner on election night says nothing about the fairness of an election or the accuracy of results. Under Arizona law, all ballots including those that were mailed must be returned by 7 p.m. on Election Day, but officials have 20 days to finalize their counts.
In Nevada, counties have four days to count late-arriving mailed ballots and give voters two more days to fix mailed ballots that arrive in envelopes with errors or missing information. This week, the elections official in the county that includes Reno reminded voters of that extended timeline and said final, official results are unlikely until the actual canvass of the vote on Nov. 18.
“It will definitely be more than the day after the election for final results of the election,” said Jamie Rodriguez, Washoe County’s interim registrar of voters.
Why can’t we be like France?
A close Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania last May triggered comparisons to the French presidential election, which had been held a few weeks earlier.
Trump, in a social media post two days after the Pennsylvania primary, questioned why it was taking so long to find out the winner: “France, same day all paper, had VERIFIED numbers in evening,” Trump wrote. “U.S. is a laughing stock on Elections.”
But in France there was only one contest on the ballot. Presidential and parliamentary elections are held on separate dates. In Pennsylvania, the U.S. Senate GOP primary was just one of several contests being decided, including races for governor, attorney general, Congress and state legislature.
U.S. elections also are not nationalized, but rather overseen by states and run by local officials at the county or even township level. The U.S. has some 10,000 jurisdictions charged with overseeing the voting process.
For presidential elections in France, the Ministry of Interior distributes election-related materials, including ballots, while local officials coordinate staffing of polling places. France also has a Constitutional Council that decides election-related complaints and announces results.
Noah Praetz, the former elections clerk in Cook County, Illinois, said it’s possible to have quick results, but the U.S. has “decided to make voting accessible to everybody and let us vote on everything.” He noted that ballots in the U.S. typically include dozens of offices in contrast to some countries where voters might simply back a party whose leadership then fills many of those positions.
In France, voters choose from lists of local candidates usually associated with a party. The candidate list gaining the most support will receive the most seats in the city and regional councils.
“It’s a fundamentally different view of democracy,” Praetz said.
In addition, voters in France can vote by proxy — designating someone else to vote for them if they are unable to cast a ballot in person on Election Day, which is not allowed in the U.S.
Do mail ballots affect the reporting of results?
They can. Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, states were expanding the use of mail ballots and early in-person voting to reduce lines on Election Day and provide more flexibility to voters.
Mail ballots are subject to various security checks, varying by state. Some require voter signatures or ID information to match their registration files, while others require witnesses or notaries to affirm a voter’s identity.
In most states, including Florida and Georgia, the process of validating mail ballots begins well ahead of Election Day — providing a huge advantage in reporting results quickly. That’s not the case in a few political battleground states. Pennsylvania and Wisconsin officials are not allowed to begin that work until Election Day, while Michigan officials can start just two days before. This means most results being reported from these states on election night will be from in-person voting on Election Day or during the early voting period.
“Counting votes and reporting the results take time,” said Leigh Chapman, acting secretary of state in Pennsylvania. “Election officials are focused on accuracy over speed.”
What other factors can slow results?
While most states require mail ballots to be received on or before Election Day, 19 states provide a grace period as long as ballots were sent through the mail by Election Day. Such ballots in California can be received up to seven days later.
Voters may not know the outcome of a close race for several days if a significant number of those ballots arrive at local election offices after Election Day.
This also can change results over time. If Democratic voters dominate mail voting while Republican voters largely cast ballots in person, this can mean that early results heavily favor a Republican candidate who then sees that lead slip away as the late-arriving mail ballots are counted.
Would hand counting help speed up the process?
No. Hand counting of all ballots happens primarily in small towns in the Northeast. For places with a lot of ballots, experts consider it to be more time-consuming and susceptible to human error. Hand tallies are used in post-election reviews to ensure accuracy of tabulator machines, but that usually involves only a sample of ballots and is done without the time pressure of trying to report results quickly.
Republican activists and candidates have been pushing for hand counts, based largely on conspiracy theories that voting systems were manipulated to steal the 2020 election. There is no evidence of widespread fraud or tampering of machines.
Also, hand counts would by themselves prolong the reporting of results, perhaps by several days.
Cobb County, Georgia, performed a hand tally ordered by the state after the 2020 election. It took hundreds of people five days to count just the votes for president on roughly 397,000 ballots. A county election official estimated it would have taken 100 days to count every race on each ballot using the same procedures.
Covering US elections is central to AP’s identity
Contact Kelsey Watznauer at (309) 820-3254. Follow her on Twitter: @kwatznauer.
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