ELEC CD-BD OF ELECTION COMM

104th Regular Session Introduced by Sharon Chung

Allows countywide referenda to convert municipal election boards into the county board and to dissolve such boards by referendum, centralizing election administration.

Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee

Summary — HB 2567 (Election Code: County Boards of Election Commissioners)

Status & Sponsor
- Introduced in the Illinois House by Rep. Sharon Chung on 2/4/2025.
- Referred to Rules Committee and subsequently to Ethics & Elections; most recent status recorded as Rule 19(a) / Re‑referred to Rules Committee (3/21/2025).
- Companion: HB 3203.

Purpose
- To expand the circumstances in which a county may establish a county board of election commissioners and to create a procedure by which an existing municipal board of election commissioners may be converted into the county board by countywide referendum. The bill also makes county dissolution of a county board subject to voter approval.

Key provisions
- New Section 6A‑1.5 — Expansion by referendum:
- Any county that contains a city, village, or incorporated town that currently has its own municipal board of election commissioners may submit a countywide referendum asking voters whether that municipal board should be established as the county board of election commissioners.
- The question must be submitted at a regular election, recorded “Yes” or “No,” and if a majority of votes cast are “Yes,” the municipal board becomes the county board for the county territory.
- The bill prescribes substantially the ballot question language.

Amendment to Section 6A‑1 — Population threshold adjustment:

Adjusts population-based criteria for counties eligible to establish county boards (synopsis indicates increasing the previously referenced upper threshold to “less than 300,000 persons” as of the 2020 federal decennial census for certain provisions). (Draft text includes edits to census-year references and numeric thresholds.)

Amendment to Section 6A‑7 — Dissolution limitation:

A county board of election commissioners may not be dissolved unless the dissolution is approved by a countywide referendum of electors.

Who is affected
- Municipal boards of election commissioners (cities, villages, incorporated towns) that could be converted into county-level boards.
- County governments that may seek to centralize election administration.
- County voters, who must approve any creation or dissolution by referendum.
- Local election administration staff and potentially county clerks, as functions could shift from municipal to county level.

Potential impacts
- Enables consolidation of election administration at the county level when local voters approve, potentially affecting staffing, logistics, training, vendor contracts, and polling operations.
- Increases local voter control over structural changes to election administration by requiring countywide referenda for conversions and dissolutions.

Note on source materials
- The packet provided included an unrelated Arizona bill text concerning groundwater replenishment; that content is not part of this Illinois Election Code amendment and is not summarized here beyond this note.