The Tazewell County Clerk & Recorder of Deeds Election Division has received two Honorable Mention “Clearinghouse Awards” from the United States Election Assistance Commission. The Tazewell County Clerk Election Division was recognized for “Outstanding Innovations In Elections in Small/Medium Jurisdictions” for their “Election Tabulation Facility” and for “Outstanding Election Official State Association Program or Local Office” for their “Illinois Election Integrity Outreach Initiative”. The Tazewell County Clerk Election Division is the first Local Election Authority within the State of Illinois to receive this high recognition from the United States Election Assistance Commission.

The Clearinghouse Awards are presented annually across the United States for best practices in Election Administration by the United States Election Assistance Commission. Established by the “Help America Vote Act of 2002”, the Election Assistance Commission is charged by Congress with serving as a clearinghouse for election administration information. To further this mission, the Election Assistance Commission launched the Clearinghouse Awards in 2016 to promote best practices in elections and celebrate the accomplishments of election officials.

In a review of the previous Clearinghouse Award announcements since 2016, the only previous Illinois recipient was the Illinois State Board of Elections for “Outstanding Innovation in Election CyberSecurity and Technology” in 2020 for their CyberNavigator Program. From this review, it appears the Tazewell County Clerk Election Division is the first and only Local Election Authority in Illinois to have received recognition from the United States Election Assistance Commission with a Clearinghouse Award.

Beginning in 2019, the Tazewell County Clerk Election Division moved the election results tabulation facility from the Tazewell County Courthouse in Pekin to a new location at the Tazewell County Emergency Management Agency Building in Tremont. They also initiated a large series of streamlined changes to the procedures utilized to complete this vital task with the goal of decreasing the time required to produce election results on Election Night. Since initiating this effort, the County Clerk’s Election Division has cut the average time to report the results down by an hour and a half, having the unofficial results ready consistently before the news at 10pm. This highly successful initiative has been widely praised by everyone impacted, from Election Judges and Election Staff to candidates and the general public. County Clerk Ackerman said of this initiative, “While reporting the Election Results accurately is the primary focus of our office, we also need to report those Unofficial Results to the public in a timely manner. This initiative successfully accomplished both requirements.”

The Tazewell County Clerk launched an “Illinois Election Integrity Outreach Initiative” in 2023 as a proactive effort heading into the 2024 Presidential Election to improve confidence in our elections. This multi-media outreach effort included the support of over 25 other Election Authorities in Illinois and captured media coverage throughout the State of Illinois on multiple occasions. This statewide effort to highlight election procedures and policies was unprecedented in the State of Illinois. County Clerk Ackerman said of this initiative, “We made the decision rather than wait and respond reactively to the questions from the public following the 2024 Presidential Election, we wanted to proactively engage the public before the election and answer any and all questions they may have about our Election Procedures and Policies, hoping to increase confidence in our elections. We appreciated the support of 25 fellow Local Election Authorities from throughout the State of Illinois with this initiative.”

According to the United States Election Assistance Commission in their announcement of the 2023 Clearinghouse Awards “Throughout the 2023 elections, election officials and their staff have continued to meet the challenges of an ever-evolving elections landscape. The Election Assistance Commission Commissioners frequently visit offices at the state and local level and recognize the tremendous efforts needed to address issues ranging from vital security concerns to growing accessibility needs.”

“We are extremely overwhelmed for Tazewell County to receive this recognition by the United States Election Assistance Commission, something I believe is a first for our county,” stated Tazewell County Clerk & Recorder of Deeds John C. Ackerman. “When you review the list of other counties receiving this recognition (the State of Mississippi, Los Angeles County, El Paso County, Denver City Clerk, Palm Beach County, Santa Fe County, and Sarasota County to name a few) you see that these others recognized are vastly larger than Tazewell County with much more resources to bring forward. And yet, here we are being recognized for successful initiatives to improve our election procedures, being recognized as amongst the best in the nation. This is a moment of great pride for our office!”