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DuPage clerk candidates tussle over election oversight issues

Four decades after the DuPage County clerk's office was stripped of its ability to oversee elections, a candidate for the office insists that power should be returned.

Her opponent in the Nov. 4 election, however, says there needs to be a compelling reason to fold the duties of the DuPage Election Commission back into the county clerk's office.

Democrat Jean Kaczmarek and Republican Paul Hinds are vying for the opportunity to succeed longtime county Clerk Gary King, who will be retiring.

Hinds is the chief deputy clerk. He has spent 18 years working for the clerk's office, which sends out property tax bills and handles other documents such as birth certificates, marriage licenses and death certificates.

Kaczmarek, meanwhile, is the co-founder of a local watchdog group that monitors the election commission.

"I have followed the election commission very closely for 10 years," Kaczmarek said during a recent Daily Herald endorsement interview. "I have found a number of egregious problems there over the years that could have been prevented had it had proper oversight."

The 56-year-old Glen Ellyn resident argues that proper oversight could have been provided by the clerk's office. So she's advocating for the administration of elections in DuPage "to be returned where it belongs" - the county clerk's office.

DuPage is unique in Illinois with a countywide election commission. As part of its responsibilities, the commission organizes, executes and documents all of the elections occurring within its boundaries.

"If you ask any county clerk in the entire state what their number one responsibility is, each one of them would say administration of the electoral process, except for DuPage County," Kaczmarek said.

Hinds says a state law allowed the election commission to be formed in 1974. Another state law may be required for the county clerk's office to conduct elections again.

"If legislators saw fit that they wanted to give elections back to the county clerk, I'd take it on just like I do all the other challenges that we have in the office," said Hinds, a 53-year-old Villa Park resident.

While he's not opposed to giving election oversight power back to the clerk's office, Hinds said it should be determined whether that idea would be cost effective. He also said the public needs to trust that the county clerk will make impartial decisions related to the election process.

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

"If the county clerk was in charge of the elections, there would be no commission meetings to attend," Hinds said. "There would be less oversight from the public."

Kaczmarek said she doesn't view DuPage's election commission as being bipartisan because all three members are nominated by the county board chairman.

Unlike nominees to other panels, the chairman doesn't need county board approval to appoint someone to the election commission. Once they're on the panel, election commissioners are paid $27,500 a year.

"It comes down to who is their boss," Kaczmarek said. "The people? Or the one person who appoints them for $27,500. The money makes it a big problem."

King, who has been the county clerk since 1986, is retiring when his term ends in December. In the meantime, he's supporting Hinds' bid to get elected to the county clerk position.

If Hinds wins, he says he will resign from his position as a trustee on the York Township board. He has held that elected post since 1993.

Jean Kaczmarek
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