Sunshine week reveals lack of election information on Illinois websites
The week of March 11-17 is the annual “Sunshine Week” where good government groups across the country work “to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.” The Illinois Policy Institute supports Sunshine Week and works year round on promoting government transparency and accountability on the state and local levels. With...
The week of March 11-17 is the annual “Sunshine Week” where good government groups across the country work “to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.”
The Illinois Policy Institute supports Sunshine Week and works year round on promoting government transparency and accountability on the state and local levels. With the transparency of government institutions comes the opportunity for citizens, media and watchdog organizations to hold our public bodies accountable.
Transparency can allow citizens to make more informed decisions about our elected officials and public questions at the ballot box, something to keep in mind with elections in Illinois less than a week away.
Unfortunately, in a recent survey of all 102 counties in Illinois by Ballotpedia.org to measure “the availability of current information about local ballot measures” found that many Illinois counties are lacking in basic election information.
“Illinois has 102 counties and as of February 2012, Ballotpedia staff has identified that 58 of those counties, or 56% of them, include some kind of local ballot measure information; 44 of the county election websites in Illinois do not appear to include any information.”
Ballotpedia ranks the county websites on a 0-5 scale and only Cook County received the highest possible score of 5 out of 5 in Illinois. 21 counties had a 4 out of 5 transparency score but the remaining 80 counties scored a 3 or less. This means that many county websites are lacking when it comes to categories such as current election information, election results, ballot text and more.
A lack of information about elections and local ballot measures makes it harder for citizens to become informed prior to a vote. Having informed citizens and voters should be a top priority for all state and local government agencies.
The review from Ballotpedia shows that 101 out of 102 counties in Illinois have room for improvement when it comes to online information for elections and ballot measures. There’s still a lot of room for improvement in Illinois. Kudos to the staff at Ballotpedia.org for raising awareness on the issue of local ballot measure transparency.
For more information on the Illinois Policy Institute’s transparency initiatives please check out the following links.
10-Point Transparency Checklist
Transparency Pledge (for candidates and elected officials)