Cunningham for Kane County clerk

When John “Jack” Cunningham first became Kane County clerk, voters who are now old enough to vote in next month’s election were still six years from being born.

Now Cunningham, an Aurora Republican, is seeking a seventh term in the office that serves as the county’s chief records keeper and election administrator.

Challenging him is former Elgin City Council member Brenda Rodgers, who defeated Cunningham’s longtime chief of staff to win the Democratic Party nomination in March.

As befitting a person in office for nearly 25 years, Cunningham can cite a long list of accomplishments: the opening of satellite offices; making the non-election aspects of his office self-funding; and successfully absorbing the duties of the now-defunct Aurora Election Commission.

More recently, we’re impressed by Cunningham’s willingness to show the public his office’s behind-the-scenes operations and other efforts he’s made to counter misinformation about election integrity.

There have been hiccups, for sure. A computer glitch during Election Night counting in April 2023 spawned both legitimate concerns and outlandish conspiracies that Cunningham seemed slow to address. And just last month, a printing error led to about 2,000 Kane County voters receiving duplicate mail ballots.

We like Rodgers, as well. She’s energetic, service-oriented and has good ideas about how to improve the office, including by installing more vote-by-mail drop boxes and increasing the number of county election judges.

We believe Rodgers could capably serve. But we know Cunningham can. He again earns our endorsement.