Morgan County Clerk Jill Waggener is going through the final processes to certify the General Election held two weeks ago.
Waggener says she still has a few ballots left to tally before making her final certification this week: “After any election, we have 14 days to still accept vote-by-mail ballots if they’re postmarked on or before Election Day. We’ve received approximately 80 back in that meet that qualification. 22 still have not been received at this point. I don’t look for them to be, so on the 20th, we will have a set of judges come in and process those ballots. Then, my election vendor will come in and we will officially post the official count and close this November 3rd election.”
Waggener says she has not heard of any issues surrounding the election or of anyone getting sick with COVID-19. Overall, she believes the whole election operation ran very well: “I will say that I have felt that way. I still feel that way. For every thing that was thrown nor only my way but even in everyday life throughout this whole COVID thing, I felt that all my judges really stepped up to the plate [as well as] my office staff [and] everybody that helped me. I’ve gotten no confirmed cases of any of my judges or any voters [and] nobody who has broken out with positive results, so I feel that we’re very fortunate there.”
Waggener says she still has many things left to do before getting ready for the April consolidated elections: “We still need to wrap up payment for election judges and mileage and payment to people that are involved in the election, and actually in December is when we will start working on next April’s election. Filings will be brought into my office. I’ll start on paperwork. We will start with applications for anybody who still wants to vote-by-mail for that election. Just numerous things, but on a smaller scale this time.”
Applications to be a municipal candidate are already available in municipal clerks’ offices in Morgan County, with petitions and application filings due in December. 9 offices are up for election in the City of Jacksonville including mayor, treasurer, and city clerk and 6 city council seats. Election applications and petitions must be completed and back to City Clerk Skip Bradshaw’s office by November 23rd between 8AM-4:30PM. You may contact City Clerk Skip Bradshaw at 217-479-4613 should you have any questions.