Tazewell County clerk's office earns national award for election security work
The Tazewell County Clerk and Recorder of Deeds Office announced Wednesday it was recognized by the United States Election Assistance Commission for excellence in election administration.
The EAC presented the county with a Clearinghouse Award, also known as a "Clearie," given annually to celebrate the work of election officials throughout the nation. The Clerk and Recorder of Deeds Office won its award for 'Security: Innovations and New Tools in Election Security and Technology,' for an initiative to remove the requirement that election judge badges display the judge's name. This move was made to add privacy security for volunteers who serve as election judges.
Tazewell County is the first Illinois county to win a Clearinghouse Award in the program's nine-year history, according to John Ackerman, Tazewell County Clerk and Recorder of Deeds.
Pekin news: Pekin nursing home fined $25,000 after resident wandered off for three days
'Our office is extremely proud to be recognized by the United States Election Assistance Commission, and as such Congress, for our administration of Tazewell County elections' Ackerman said in a release. 'We deeply value the approximately 500 election judges that serve the citizens of county each and every election. These volunteers serve a vital role in making sure our elections are safe, secure, and accurate. This was opportunity to for us to add a layer of safety and security to these positions.'
The office also received an honorable mention in the 'I Voted Stickers: Creative and Original' category for their 2024 series celebrating Pekin's bicentennial and its affinity for marigolds.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Tazewell County program wins 'clearie' from U.S. Election Assistance Commission
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Government facing increasing pressure to ban bottom trawling in protected areas
The Government is facing growing pressure from MPs to ban damaging activities such as bottom trawling in protected areas of England's waters. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said the fishing technique, which involves dragging heavy fishing nets across the seabed, as well as dredging and mining should be banned in offshore marine protected areas (MPAs). Campaigners have long been calling for an end to such activities that are still permitted in the UK's 178 MPAs. But these calls have been intensifying ahead of a major UN ocean conference that kicks off in Nice, France, next week. The issue recently came to attention after dramatic footage from Sir David Attenborough's new film on oceans captured the heavy metal chains of a bottom trawl net bulldozing through silt on the seafloor and scooping up species indiscriminately. In a report, published on Thursday, the EAC warned that the Government's 'failure to effectively manage gaps in the network of marine protected areas' is allowing these damaging activities to take place. Water minister Emma Hardy recently told the committee that the Government was 'committed to not having bottom trawling in areas that damage the MPAs, especially when they are attached to features that we are trying to protect'. But the EAC report highlighted that the Government has not set out a timeline for taking further action to protect the protected areas from the practice. It also raised concerns about the UK's marine policy statement, which guides planning decisions for the country's seas and was last published in 2011 followed by an update after Brexit. The MPs described it as 'outdated, not fit for purpose and no longer reflects Government policy or pressures on the marine environment'. Elsewhere, the committee criticised the UK's failure to ratify the UN ocean treaty – which aims to establish protected areas in international waters – or at least publish a timeline to introduce the required legislation to do so. In light of this, the group of MPs said they are 'concerned' that the protection of the ocean is not demonstrably a priority for the Government and urged the Government to ratify the treaty no later than this September. The treaty will not come into force until ratification by 60 countries, with the current number standing at 28. Toby Perkins, EAC chairman, said: 'UK waters are teeming with complex ecosystems that are not only precious in their own right but also critical to sustaining the delicate balance of marine life. 'Ministers must ensure that marine protected areas live up to their name.' In its report, the EAC urged the Government to press ahead with banning bottom trawling in offshore protected areas where it presents the most risk, update the UK's marine policy statement and set out a timeline for ratifying the UN treaty. Damaging and extractive activities are completely banned only in 'highly protected marine areas' – of which the UK has just three, compared with the 178 MPAs, which cover 51% of inshore and 37% of offshore waters. The committee recommended the Government expand this network to 10% of UK waters by 2030 to meet its biodiversity targets, based on evidence of their effectiveness in marine nature recovery. It also called for a plan to designate more HMPAs to be published by January 2026. The PA news agency has contacted the Environment Department (Defra) for comment.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
York County students competing in ‘I Voted' sticker designs contest
YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — Students in York County are creating their own designs for an 'I Voted' sticker. The Cultural Alliance of York County and the County of York are offering the contest to give students a chance to show their importance in exercising their right to vote. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now There will be winners in three different age groups: kindergarten through fifth grade, sixth through eighth grades, and ninth through twelfth grades. A committee of local educators and artists will choose the winners. This is the second year that students in all grades K-12 have had the chance to create their own design, and the winners will be announced at the York Revolution home game on July 29, 202. The winning students will get free game tickets for themselves and their family members. They will also get gift certificates from local businesses along with four tickets to attend future games. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Thurston County commissioners honor auditor's office for national communications award
May 7—The Thurston County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) honored the county auditor's office after it recently won a national Clearinghouse Award from the United States Election Assistance Commission, recognized for excellence in voter education and communications. The auditor's office's "Your Neighbors, Your Elections" video series won the award, beating out other counties in the large jurisdictions category such as Pierce County and Los Angeles County, according to Auditor Mary Hall. "Your Neighbors, Your Elections" highlights the real people behind Thurston County's elections: local residents who volunteer their time to show how elections work and to build trust in county elections. Additionally, the auditor's office received an honorable mention in the accessibility category for "Expanding Access: Public Transit Partnerships for Accessible Elections." Hall visited the Tuesday BOCC meeting to highlight the work done by the auditor's office communications team en route to the Clearinghouse Award, which she dubbed the "Academy Award of election awards." "Every county in the country applies for these, and we have many times, but I'm thrilled that we won the award for outreach effort," Hall said. "We are big believers in that the way to build trust in elections is really through transparency, and elections are conducted by people. There are a lot of rumors out there of what's really happening. So we brought people together, and we wanted to show the community who really is behind elections, and it's really your neighbors." Hall thanked the volunteers for their courage in a climate in which she said elections workers and officials have received threats, including a fentanyl-laced envelope last year. "It was very courageous of them to step up. We've really redefined what voter education looks like. It's personal, it's honest, and it's proven to be effective," she said. "All of this was done in house with very minimal cost. This is government at its best." Emmett O'Connell, communications manager at the auditor's office and creator of the effort, said the idea to highlight the people behind the elections came from research about effective ways to build trust in elections. The "Your Neighbors, Your Elections" videos are unscripted, he said, and they allow volunteers to explain what they enjoy about working in elections and what motivates them. "The most measurable measure with this project was the change in tenor in online comments when we went to our digital ad campaign in the fall. As you might imagine, people have a lot of strong thoughts about elections when presented to them in their social news feeds," O'Connell said. "It's a lot of negative. Once we put money behind these ads, it was breathtaking. People were so kind. The people who did decide to jump into those comment threads and say negative things were chastised, not by me but by other people." Commissioner Emily Clouse called for a round of applause after the auditor's office presented one of the videos in the series to the commissioners. She lauded Hall and her team for the care they put into the elections process. "I've seen firsthand how much you care. I've had the pleasure of touring the ballot processing center twice, and once was actually on election day," Clouse said. "Everyone was locked in. They were so focused on what they were doing, but you could still see how much joy there was, and you could feel it in the room because people care so much about making sure we have fair and transparent elections."