Endorsement: Vega for Lake County clerk

This endorsement is a consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board.

Election-related technology continues to be a challenge for the Lake County clerk's office.

In November 2020, the final wave of results wasn't posted until 1:30 a.m., in part because of problems with two on-site voting machines that did not tabulate properly.

In April 2021, some election judges couldn't upload their data from their local precincts and instead, around 9 p.m., resorted to driving to the clerk's office in Waukegan to deliver memory sticks.

And the morning of Sept. 29, the first day of early in-person voting for the Nov. 8 election, Clerk Robin M. O'Connor had to turn away 20 voters because the election software system had not properly imported data.

"I would rather get it right than rushed," said O'Connor, a Libertyville Republican. "Accuracy is crucial to maintaining the integrity of the election process."

Yes, accuracy is crucial, but the repeated tech glitches do not inspire confidence in the clerk's office or O'Connor, who was first elected as part of a Democratic wave in 2018 but switched parties this year as she launched her bid for a second term.

As the former chief of staff of the Lake County sheriff's office, Democratic challenger Anthony Vega of Grayslake collaborated with its IT department on cybersecurity protections and worked to ensure safeguards for inmate voter access. We feel he is the better choice to manage Lake County's elections.

Vega is endorsed.