Evelyn Sanguinetti: 2022 candidate for DuPage County Clerk
Bio
Party: Republican
Office sought: DuPage County Clerk
City: Wheaton
Age: 51
Occupation: Attorney
Previous offices held: Wheaton Councilman, Illinois Lieutenant Governor
Q&A
Q: Why are you running for this office? Is there a particular issue that motivates you?
A: I am a first generation American. Therefore, good government motivates me. I am running for DuPage County Clerk to restore competency, integrity and faith in the clerk's office.
During her first term in office, Clerk Kaczmarek committed the following egregious errors: failed to appear at a county board meeting since March 24, 2020; failed to meet the deadline to approve precinct maps, thereby creating confusion; and failed to send a certified sales tax ordinance to the Illinois Department of Revenue, costing DuPage County residents up to $4 million in lost tax revenue.
To date, Kaczmarek has refused to hold herself accountable for these egregious errors. As an attorney, former Executive Director of HOPE Fair Housing, former Wheaton City Councilperson, and Illinois' 47th Lieutenant Governor, my experience in the private and public sectors have prepared me for this position. Most importantly, I will show up to work every day and remain accountable to DuPage residents.
Q: If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of any important initiatives you've led. If you are a challenger, what would you bring to the position and what would your priority be?
A: Clerk Kaczmarek has not attended a county board meeting in over two years. I will be a present and full-time clerk for DuPage residents. As clerk, I will bring my experience as a mother of three, attorney, former adjunct professor of law, former Wheaton Councilperson, former Illinois Lieutenant Governor, and former Executive Director of HOPE Fair Housing.
Priorities
Modernize Clerk's Office by providing more online options.
Improve Confidence in Elections by ensuring clean voter rolls. Recent legislation allows us to permanently receive vote by mail ballots. To ensure confidence and success in this program, I will assign staff to remove the deceased from voter rolls, and address those who have moved.
Transparency. Per Kaczmarek's recent responses to FOIA requests, she has no records showing attendance or work product, and refused to provide a complaint log for the recent primary election. She also refused to appear at county board meetings to explain her $4 million error.
Q: Name one concrete program you'll create or personnel move you'll make to improve efficiency in the office or make it more successful. Explain how it will be funded and how you will overcome any obstacles to initiating it.
A: The last 2 years have taught us to pivot and deliver services differently. I will streamline the delivery of services by providing more online options and decreasing the amount of time residents must physically spend in the clerk's office. For couples applying for a marriage license, I will significantly decrease the amount of time couples spend in the clerk's office by allowing them to fill out the application online.
Doing so will allow couples to only appear in the clerk's office for final execution. Further, I will continue to advocate for the expansion of online services by pursuing legislation to file budgets and levies online with digital signatures rather than in person seals.
The cost of these efficiencies will far outweigh the costs associated with the amount of personnel needed to support these services. I will overcome obstacles associated with initiating these efficiencies by being present at all county board meetings to answer questions related to this program.
Q: How secure are you in the knowledge that election results in DuPage County are reported fairly and accurately?
A: While I do not subscribe to theories of election conspiracies, every process has an error rate. We owe it to our residents to drive that number down. Clerk Kaczmarek's refusal to openly address any error reduces confidence in the integrity of our local results.
Further, litigation related to a recount of the 2020 general election revealed several shortcomings. That litigation, which cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, saw the presiding judge throw out over 800 defective ballots, Kaczmarek's admission that she never balanced the number of ballots counted to the number of individuals who voted, and the revelation that three election judges who handled vote by mail ballots were fired for undocumented reasons.
Recently, Kaczmarek refused to comply with a FOIA request seeking a complaint log for the June 2022 primary. Kaczmarek shrouds her work in secrecy, makes a large salary and refuses to show up to work. This does not breed confidence in her ability to manage elections.