Lake County’s new Democratic Party chairman said Tuesday the latest attempt to reach a local compromise on the small precinct consolidation before action is taken downstate has been unsuccessful.
Jim Wieser, chairman of the Lake County Democratic Central Committee, said he spoke with his counterpart, Republican Party Chair Dan Dernulc, late last week to see if a compromise could be reached.
Both House Bill 1147 and Senate Bill 220 have called for Lake County to consolidate precincts with less than 600 active voters. The Lake County Board of Elections last month voted along party lines to consolidate precincts with less than 500 active voters, a figure put forth in similar legislation approved in 2014.
He said locally he offered a compromise of 550 active voters to Dernulc and asked him to consult with officials on the Republican side involved in the consolidation effort.
“They are not budging. They are not moving. They are not changing their position on 600 active voters,” Wieser said.
He decried both bills as more examples of Lake County-specific legislation that forces county officials’ hands. Wieser said he agrees precincts need to be consolidated and when precincts with less than 600 active voters are consolidated it will eliminate almost 50 percent of the county’s precincts.
“Once you get by that point, in my opinion it starts having a negative impact on voters. You start having voter suppression,” Wieser said.
“This is reflective of legislation being crammed down our throat because we are Lake County,” he said. “We can’t control what an overwhelming super majority (in the Legislature) is going to do.”
Republican Election Board member Michael Mellon, of Munster, disputed precincts would be cut by 50 percent. Regardless, he said the vote by the election board ended the work of the small precinct committee as it relates to the state legislation. Now the real non-partisan work has to be done evaluating the county’s precincts and making the cuts.
“For us to be able to whittle them down…there is going to be a lot of work,” Mellon said. “There is a wonderful opportunity in front of us to show we are not a partisan board.”
Clerk Mike Brown, a Democrat, said the county is a victim of its own success by working hard to establish multiple early voting locations and make things easier for the voter.
“I think the state is sort of looking at this board’s wins in the wrong manner,” Brown said.
After the meeting he said it is his belief the state wants to force the county to moving to more voting centers, which would ultimately eliminate all precincts and their respective committee people.
Dana Dumezich, the other Republican on the board, said there has been no action on consolidation since the initial legislation in 2014 was approved and then later expired when the Lake County Democratic Party sued. She said when the small precinct committee met last month, a compromise of 550 active voters was offered.
Dernulc confirmed he did speak with Wieser, but decision-makers for the organization decided “we are just going to see what happens tomorrow in Indianapolis.”
He said he has always gotten along with Wieser and is hopeful they will be able to work together to work out some things that are coming up soon.
“Hopefully we will get past this,” Dernulc said.
Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
