In the past few days, many Tazewell County Voters received from the Tazewell County Clerk's office a Vote-By-Mail application for a November 3 ballot.

Other voters received from the GOP REMOTE VOTE program a Vote-By-Mail application for a November 3 ballot.

Some voters received both. 

Why did they get them, and does this mean that voters must Vote-By-Mail?

The quick answer is; no voter is required to send either card back.  Voting in person either on Election Day at your regular polling place or before Election Day at early voting sites will be available unless the Governor and/or the Democrat-controlled legislature decide to change the game in the name of COVID-19. 

Governor Pritzker signed a bill requiring the counties to send the card received from Tazewell County Clerk for the November 3 election.  The Illinois GOP, Tazewell GOP, and the Republican candidates paid for the cards from GOP REMOTE VOTE.

More wide spread Vote-By-Mail is seen as a solution for voters that will be uneasy about voting in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

What about Fraud?

Mailing unsolicited, actual ballots to registered voters is ripe for fraud.  Mailing unsolicited applications, not ballots, to registered voters is what Illinois' Vote-By-Mail laws require for the November 3 election.  Tazewell County Clerk John C. Ackerman assures us that long established procedures in Tazewell County greatly reduce the risk of fraud.  The volume of voters using Vote-By-Mail this year will likely require significant staff time to accommodate, but the risk of fraud should remain minimal.

Why did both the County Clerk and the GOP both send cards?

The law that Governor Pritzker signed requires counties to mail Vote-By-Mail applications to all registered voters who voted in the 2018 General Election, 2019 Consolidated Election, or the 2020 General Primary Election.  It was a flagrantly political decision to not include the 2016 General Election in the law.  Even though President Trump did not win in Illinois, hundreds of thousands of people voted who either never voted before or who seldom vote went to the polls in 2016.  Republicans in Illinois know that many of these people were Trump voters, and so do Pritzker and Madigan.  Since these Trump voters weren't going to get government funded Vote-By-Mail applications, the Republican Party created the GOP REMOTE VOTE program. 

GOP REMOTE VOTE levels the playing field by including the 2016 Trump voters.  In addition, the program works as an advocate for voters by ensuring that the applications are handled properly by the counties and, most importantly, tracks to make sure the actual ballots are received by the voters.

What should voters do?

The good news is you have choices. 

• Vote in person on November 3 at your regular polling place. 
• Vote in person at Early voting locations.  Tazewell County Early Voting. 
• Return a Vote-By-Mail application, receive a packet from the Tazewell County Clerk in September and mail your completed ballot directly to the County Clerk's office for tabulation.

Note: With either application discussed here, don't cut the postcard apart.  You can tape the postcard, with your personal information concealed, by folding the instruction sheet over the back of the page you signed or you can choose to mail the postcard back in a sealed envelope.  There is no information on the card, however, which is not found in the public domain. 

Download Sample GOP REMOTE VOTE VBM Application (pdf)

Download Sample Tazewell County Clerk VBM Application (pdf)

Whether you choose to vote in person at the polls, by absentee ballot, at an early voting polling location or if you decide to vote by mail, it is vital that we as Republicans get the vote out and fight back the Progressive Liberal agenda which is hard at work attempting to destroy our state and our nation. 

As always, should you have any questions on this issue, please do not hesitate to contact our Chairman Jim Rule at 309-353-8467 (GOP Office) or by email at [email protected].