No Sign of Illegal Voter Registration at the McHenry County Fair

I haven't visited the McHenry County Fair, which is open through Sunday. But judging from the photos on Cal Skinner's Mchenry County Blog, there is no indication that an illegal voter registration operation is being conducted at the McHenry Fair in either the Republican or Democratic booths. We will keep you apprised of any new developments, if warranted.

Register Here to Vote + Vote Republican

Thanks go out to another sharp-eyed shutter-bug. We now have some more photos of the Lake County Republican's illegal voter registration operation at this year's County Fair. Click the photos to see a full image.



The message here must be:
Register Here to Vote and Vote Republican



The registration form.



And in case you don't know who to vote for,
there are some easy-to-see reminders on the back wall.

Republicans Shut Down Illegal Voter Registration Operation at the Lake County Fair

The story was broken on this blog here about the Lake County Republican illegal voter registration operation at the County Fair this week. This sort of operation is specifically prohibited by Illinois Law and the State Board of Elections:

Political parties having certified civic organization status must NOT conduct voter registration activities at political functions. Voter registration activities must be organized as separate and distinct functions by all organizations. Any type of electioneering or campaigning while conducting voter registration activities is STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

State Board of Elections Guidelines

Lake County Clerk Willard Helander, the controlling authority over voter registration, was present at the Fair and at the Republican booth. Helander refused to recognize the operation was illegal. Helander's rationale was since "Motor Voter" forms were distributed, it did not qualify as voter registration activity. All this despite the fact that a sign in the Republican booth clearly says:

REGISTER HERE TO VOTE

New photos of the operation became available to us and are being publicly released here for the first time.



The State Board of Elections strictly prohibits campaigning or electioneering while conducting voter registration. In the photo below, the campaign yardsigns belong to:

• Willard Helander
• Mark Curran
• Robert Skidmore
• JoAnn Osmond
• Dan Duffy
• Sandy Cole
• Ed Sullivan Jr
• Dan Sugrue
• Mark Kirk

Also photos of Suzi Schmidt appear above in two places, identifying her as a candidate for the State Senate.

The illegal voter registration operation held by the Republican Party stretched from July 28 until August 2 at the Lake County Fair. The operation was shut down at the close of the 2009 County Fair.