DuPage group to review consolidation options

Nearly 40 years after election oversight was stripped from the DuPage County clerk’s office to create the DuPage Election Commission, county officials are exploring whether certain functions of both offices could be consolidated to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

Election commission officials have adopted a series of cost-saving measures since county board Chairman Dan Cronin launched the DuPage ACT (Accountability, Consolidation and Transparency) Initiative in May 2012. The initiative called on the commission and 23 other agencies to make structural and operational reforms.

“We’ve implemented a lot of reforms and streamlined the way we do business in that office,” Cronin said on Friday.

The commission, for example, has shifted its website to the county’s system, sought bids for several contracts and reduced the total number of polling places countywide from 333 to 262. Those and other changes are projected to save taxpayers up to $2.8 million over the next four years.

Still, Cronin says he wants to take “an even closer look” at the administrative functions of the commission and the clerk’s office “to see what additional opportunities we can pursue.”

So he has formed a “working group” that will explore the issue. Cronin will serve on the group along with County Clerk Gary King and Cathy Ficker Terrill, chairwoman of the DuPage Election Commission Board.

The working group is scheduled to have its first meeting next month.

One idea the group will consider is whether the county clerk, who is elected countywide, should run the day-to-day operations of the election commission.

“I am interested in exploring whether the clerk’s office can take on some of the administration responsibilities of the election commission,” Cronin said.

The working group also will examine whether staff at the commission and the clerk’s office should be cross-trained. Then they could do work for both offices.

When asked if DuPage could merge the election commission with the county clerk’s office, Cronin said it’s a scenario the working group will examine.

“Everything is on the table,” he said.

No matter what changes are made, Cronin said he still wants the bipartisan election commission board to continue to oversee the election process in DuPage.

“It is a hallmark of our system out here,” he said. “It’s important to make sure that both Democrats and Republicans alike feel that the administration of elections is fair and efficient.”

Under state law, both political parties must be represented on the three-person election commission board, but Republicans currently hold two of the three seats in DuPage.