DuPage Election Commission under fire for $1 copying fee

[mopinko]

BY ROBERT SANCHEZ
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Thursday, June 29, 2006

Faced with mounting criticism of its $1-per-page copying fee, the DuPage Election Commission is expected to revisit the long-standing policy.

Members of the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project say their efforts to get public information from the commission have been stymied by the "outrageous" fees.

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Illinois Ballot Integrity Project claims that other election agencies charge nothing or minimal fees for copies of routine records. The Illinois State Board of Elections, for example, charges 25 cents per page.

http://www.dailyherald.com/news/dupagestory.asp?id=203925&cc=d&tc=&t=


also

DuPage election panel's $1 copy fee scrutinized

By John Biemer
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 30, 2006

Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan's office has asked the DuPage County Election Commission to review its $1 per page charge for copies of public documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act to ensure it's in compliance with state law--stating that most government offices charge from 5 to 20 cents.

Under the act, public bodies can "charge fees reasonably calculated to reimburse its `actual cost for reproduction,'" Assistant Atty. Gen. Terry Mutchler pointed out in a letter to Election Commission Chairman J.P. "Rick" Carney earlier this month. They cannot charge for the costs of employees searching for and reviewing the records, she said.

Mutchler said Thursday that the Election Commission would be "hard-pressed to justify a dollar a page," a charge that is "way out of whack" with most other governmental bodies--including her own, which charges 15 cents a page, but only after giving away the first 30 pages free.

"What it costs your copier to spit it out is what you get to charge," said Mutchler, the attorney general's public access counselor. "If your copier is costing you a dollar a page, you might want to rethink it."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/west/chi-0606300279jun30,1,1575052.story

say thanks to [e-mail] for finally starting to do their jobs about election integrity. personally, i think the deck was stacked against cegelis. although there was a 5% audit of the vote in dupage, the results of that count will never see the light of day without a fight. and ibip had found many other anomalies in registration and voting patterns. $1/page is their last hope to keep it all under a barrel. tammy is screwed if this shit does not stop. hope she and the dccc have someone working on it.