Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon Heads to Washington for National Election Roundtable (Washington, D.C.) — Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon will represent suburban Cook County on the national stage Wednesday as election officials from several of the country’s largest jurisdictions gather in Washington to discuss election security, voter access, modernization and emerging challenges ahead of the midterm elections.
Gordon is scheduled to participate in the National Election Administration Roundtable on Wednesday, Sept. 30, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The invitation-only event is being convened by the Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions, or PLEJ, a national nonpartisan organization that brings together election administrators responsible for overseeing some of the nation’s largest voting populations.
The meeting comes as election authorities across the country prepare for another major election cycle while confronting increasingly complex operational, technological and security concerns.
“As election administrators, we have a responsibility to share what is working and be willing to adapt to the challenges of a changing election environment,” Gordon said. “I’m proud to bring the perspective of Cook County to this national conversation and to learn from election leaders who are tackling many of the same challenges in their communities.”
Gordon serves as the chief election authority for suburban Cook County, overseeing an election jurisdiction that includes nearly 1.8 million registered voters across 125 municipalities.
The Clerk’s Office is responsible for a wide range of election operations, including voter registration, election equipment, ballot administration, early voting, Election Judge recruitment and training, and providing voters with accurate information about the election process.
Those responsibilities make Cook County one of the largest and most complicated local election operations in Illinois.
PLEJ was created specifically to address the challenges facing large jurisdictions. According to the organization, the roughly 300 largest election jurisdictions in the United States represent more than 75 percent of American voters, even though there are more than 10,000 election jurisdictions nationwide.
The organization describes itself as a community of practice where election administrators can exchange information, develop best practices and work through issues unique to jurisdictions serving hundreds of thousands or millions of voters.
Among PLEJ’s stated priorities are accurate and secure elections, voter accessibility, modernization, transparency and ensuring election offices have the resources necessary to administer elections effectively. The organization also holds webinars, conferences and peer discussions designed to allow election professionals to share solutions to problems they encounter on the ground.
Wednesday’s roundtable is expected to focus on several areas that have become increasingly important for election offices, including continuity of operations, infrastructure, security and voter access.
The gathering will also give local officials an opportunity to speak directly with national media about how elections are administered and the logistical work that takes place before ballots are cast and results are reported.
Gordon will be joined by election administrators representing major jurisdictions including Los Angeles County, California; Palm Beach County, Florida; St. Louis County, Missouri; Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; and Dallas County, Texas.
While election laws and procedures can vary considerably from state to state, officials overseeing large jurisdictions frequently face similar logistical challenges, from maintaining voting equipment and recruiting election workers to handling large voter-registration databases and communicating election information to the public.
PLEJ says its membership is designed to encourage election officials from different parts of the country and across political lines to exchange practical information about those issues. Membership is open to election professionals representing jurisdictions with at least 250,000 residents or jurisdictions that rank among the four largest in their respective states.
Gordon’s appearance in Washington also comes as the Cook County Clerk’s Office has received attention for efforts to involve younger residents directly in the election process.
Earlier this year, Gordon’s office launched a high school early voting initiative that trained students from 24 suburban high schools to serve as certified Election Judges during the March 17 gubernatorial primary. Students participated in voter check-in, ballot processing and election-equipment operations under the supervision of the Clerk’s Office.
The program, known as “Defenders of DA’mocracy,” was developed with participation from the Chicago Bears and was recently recognized by the Cook County Board in a proposed resolution highlighting the Clerk’s Office’s election administration work. County records say the initiative was designed to give students hands-on experience while building a future pipeline of Election Judges and engaged voters.
That type of local experience is expected to be part of the perspective Gordon brings to the Washington discussion.
For large election jurisdictions, the challenge extends far beyond what voters see when they enter a polling place. Administrators must prepare voting locations, test and secure equipment, recruit and train workers, maintain voter rolls, process early and mail ballots, respond to Election Day problems and ensure procedures comply with state and federal law.
At the same time, officials have increasingly emphasized the importance of communicating clearly with voters as election procedures, technology and security concerns continue to evolve.
PLEJ says one of its central goals is giving local election administrators a larger voice in national discussions about election policy and operations, particularly because those officials are responsible for implementing election laws at the community level.
For Gordon, Wednesday’s roundtable offers Cook County an opportunity both to contribute to that conversation and to bring ideas from other large jurisdictions back home.
The National Election Administration Roundtable is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the National Press Club in Washington.
Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon Heads to Washington for National Election Roundtable
