Illinois GOP Launching 'Election Integrity' Committee, but Claim it has Nothing to do with Trump Rhetoric
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy leads a rally at the Illinois State Fair last month. Tracy and the Illinois GOP are launching an “Election Integrity” committee, which Tracy says won’t cast doubt on Illinois elections, but prove laws work when county clerks follow them.
Nationally, Republicans are facing an identity crisis. Their standard bearer, the former President, continually peddles misleading and false information claiming the 2020 election was “rigged” and that he should be, and eventually will be back, in office. All across the country and in Illinois, confidence in electoral processes are low.
While Illinois Republicans aren’t challenging the presidential election in Illinois (Joe Biden won the state by around a million votes), the state GOP is launching a committee aimed at “election integrity.” Illinois GOP Chairman Don Tracy confirmed to The Illinoize Monday the committee is being formed and would be formally announced in the next few weeks. But, Tracy says, it isn’t being devised to relitigate the 2020 presidential election.
“Election integrity is an issue in every election because there are always irregularities in every election and that has been going on for a long time,” Tracy said. “[The] committee is going to focus on helping maintain and make our elections safer and more secure in the future.”
Tracy says formation of the committee is not a statement that Illinois Republicans want the presidential election overturned or that officials believe the election was “stolen” from Donald Trump, as the former president has alleged.
“We are trying to enhance trust in elections so that everybody, not just the winners, believe that elections were fair and not rigged,” he said. “Look at 2016. Millions of Democrats were led to believe this Russian collusion hoax and that election was rigged. For four years we were dealing with half the country that didn’t think Trump was the legitimate President.”
Tracy cites “massive” vote by mail ballots that he calls “harder to secure” in the 2020 election as part of the concern.
“Voting by mail, with its separation in the chain of custody, poses unique challenges to election integrity,” Tracy said. “We need to address those issues so that we can have fair, safe, secure, honest elections moving forward.”
While the list of Republicans who will serve on the committee hasn’t been released and Tracy said he wasn’t ready to announce the group, it does seemingly include Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman. Ackerman, who referred us to a statement on his campaign Facebook page.
“It is vitally important we maintain the strong fraud prevention policies and procedures within current Illinois state law,” Ackerman wrote. “Additionally, we need to make it a priority that we support the election of county clerks throughout Illinois that will follow and enforce these strong fraud prevention policies and procedures.”
Republicans point to a 2018 election for Macon County Sheriff that was overturned in favor of a Republican earlier this year after the validity of some ballots couldn’t be ensured. They also cite a 2020 race for County Auditor in DuPage County, in which a full recount was ordered in May. Party officials also cite Democratic Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons, who has been reprimanded by the Illinois State Board of Elections on multiple occasions.
Democrats allege the state GOP is pandering to Trump and his supporters.
“Are we talking about the same people who denied the election results of 2020? It sounds like the IL GOP is still consumed by Donald Trump instead of the people of Illinois,” a state Democratic party spokesperson said in a statement provided to The Illinoize Monday night.
But Tracy says that’s not the case.
“Speaking directly to the 2020 election, it’s over, as far as I’m concerned, as far as the Illinois Republican Party is concerned,” he said. “Republicans, we care about voting. We want it to be easy to vote but hard to cheat. The Democrats, they only seem to want it to be easy. That’s all they care about.”