This year’s race for McLean County Clerk features veteran Kathy Michael against rookie Laura McBurney. Michael, a Republican was elected County Clerk in 2010 and is finishing her third term. McBurney, a Democrat is new to government and politics.
Cities asked Michael to tell us what she has accomplished in the last four years and she responded, “For the past two years, we have all made it through the COVID years, and hopefully, the worst is over. Our office adjusted to COVID shut downs and still was able to meet the needs of the public by safeguards, an “office” across the street in the “Hut” as we nicknamed it, special safety shields and working remotely.”
Michael continued, “All during COVID, our Vital Records Division never had to turn away a marriage request, as our safeguards were in place. We never stopped serving the public.”
Michael boasts that she has overseen 17 safe and secure elections with no voter fraud, security breaches, or voter suppression ever reported. She says her office makes working with the; McLean County IT Department, State Board of Elections, the Illinois State Police & Homeland Security a high priority.
Michael is also proud of her office’s voter education efforts. Each year the office provides education and information to those reentering society. The clerk’s office coordinates voter registration drives with schools, towns, villages, and community organizations.
As her campaign continues Michael says she is looking “forward to speaking at an event in October sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the League of Women Voters.” “I enjoy events such as these where I can talk about our office, what we do, and all that we have accomplished for the citizens of McLean County,” Michael added.
McBurney decided to run for county clerk after Run for Something asked her to seek the office. Run for Something is an organization that helps progressives who care about their communities run for office.
McBurney has experience in customer service and office administration. She cares about protecting voters’ rights, providing freedom of choice, equity, respect for differences, transparency and accountability. Laura wants to improve voter knowledge to increase the public’s confidence in the system and engagement in the process.
McBurney supports making the county clerk an appointed position. Recently she supported diversity by attending Pridefest 2022 with her children writing on Facebook that it “provided a wonderful opportunity to talk with my children about why respecting and celebrating our differences and freedoms is so important.”
This summer McBurney has been campaigning at the Towanda Fourth of July Parade, Stanford’s Good Old Jubilee, West Fest, the McLean County Fair and the Danver’s Days Parade.
Michael’s view on election fraud puts her in an awkward position between the views of her own Republican Party and the views of the Democrat Party on the 2020 Presidential election.
In March, McLean County Republicans held an Election Protection Seminar. Cited during the seminar was a website titled electionfraud20.org and specifically a story titled Illinois Election Analysis by Seth Keshel. Keshel found it likely that some election fraud occurred in McLean County.
Michael a Republican objected to the claim and asked the presenter to change the presentation saying they couldn’t verify any fraud. Michael is confident there is no election fraud in McLean County.
Run for Something, who McBurney announced on June 39th has endorsed her, would likely agree with Michael since the group posted a link to A July 27th Time article on their web page titled, “Backers of the ‘Big Lie; Are Trying to Run Local Elections. Democrats Are Finally Fighting Back.”
Michael also finds claims of election fraud troubling because no matter what side you are on they promote public mistrust and discourage people from voting. She believes election deniers, which would include Democrats in 2016 and Republicans in 2020, are destroying democracy.
