Pritzker Can't Wash Hands Of Coronavirus Primary Risk To Voters

CHICAGO — Gov. J.B. Pritzker uses weasel words wisely while defending his decision to go ahead with in-person voting during the March 17 primary as the new coronavirus spread across Illinois.

The election, the governor claims, had to go on because he couldn't legally "shut it down."

To "unilaterally" cancel in-person voting, Pritzker says, "is unquestionably not within my legal authority."

A Better Government Association fact checker found his statement about the limits of an Illinois governor's power under the state constitution was "mostly true."

That's because Pritzker didn't lie about the limits of a governor's power under state law.

But what the governor doesn't mention is that he could have saved elderly high-risk people the risk of casting ballots and serving as election judges with help from other government branches — a judge or state lawmakers if, that is, he had the political will.

The state constitution that prevents the governor from "unilaterally," as Pritzker put it, calling off elections also gives the executive branch the ability to call the Legislature back into session whenever he sees fit.

So far, Pritzker has preferred to govern by issuing executive orders without legislative help from state senators and representatives elected by voters to represent their best interests.

The primary election was no different.

“Look, we have to have our elections continue, in my opinion," Pritzker said March 16. "This is the right thing to do. Our democracy needs to go on. We have to elect leaders."

Despite everything that Pritzker's public health experts knew at the time — the state didn't have enough tests to know how many people were infected with COVID-19, personal protective gear was in short supply, and even family dinners at a sit-down restaurant had become public health risk — voting in a partisan primary that didn't elect anybody was more important than protecting the public.

Pritzker made that decision unilaterally based on his "opinion." Weeks before the election, Pritzker ignored the perspective of Chicago and suburban election officials who called for emergency changes to the election code to protect the health of voters and election judges.

When a Chicago election official expressed frustration over the Pritzker administration's refusal to find a way to make sure voters and poll workers didn't have to risk their lives to nominate candidates for a spot on the November ballot, the governor attacked.

The governor used his pandemic press conference as a bully pulpit to accuse the unelected public servant of "political posturing" and whining about "being asked to do uncomfortable things, to make hard choices."

“If people want to criticize me for that, well go ahead,” Pritzker said on election day. "I’ll wear it like a badge of honor."

***

On Monday, I broke the news that five days after working as an election judge, 60-year-old Revall Burke drove himself to a hospital where he died from COVID-19 on April 1. Chicago election authorities also warned voters and poll workers at 13 precincts that they may have come in contact with someone who later tested positive for the coronavirus.

When reporters asked Pritzker later that day whether going ahead with the election was a mistake, Pritzker stuck with ambiguous and misleading talking points about the constitutional limits of his power.

He told reporters, "I couldn't shut it down."

The governor didn't volunteer to explain why his lawyers didn't call on lawmakers or a judge to tweak voting rules during a pandemic so voters could stay home and save lives on election day.

Instead, Pritzker claimed his administration backed up local election boards by sending them personal protective equipment at a time when the public health officials said gloves and masks should be reserved for first responders due to supply shortages.

That never happened.

When local election officials asked for guidance on how to pull off the primary and comply with Pritzker's order to cancel all events with 50 or more people, state election authorities responded with an email "prepared in consultation with the governor's office" on March 16 at 5:34 p.m. that didn't recommend the use of personal protective equipment, let alone offer up supplies.

The state's "approved guidance" called for practicing social distancing, providing sanitizer, keeping voting equipment clean and encouraging hand washing, among other things.

On primary day, a couple nice older ladies who served as election judges with Revall Burke were left to fend off the coronavirus themselves with little more than that advice.

Chicago election officials didn't send gloves to their Southwest Side polling place.

So the election judges brought gloves and sanitizing wipes from home to protect voters and each other from an invisible virus that took Burke's life.

Pritzker unilaterally put them together in that polling place.

Now, he wants to wash his hands of it.

Where's the honor in that?

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting and Emmy-nominated producer, was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docu-series on CNN. He was a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary, "16 Shots."

More from Mark Konkol:

• Election Judge Hospitalized After Primary Dies Of Coronavirus
• Mayor's Haircut In Stay-At-Home Chicago, City Of Big Whiners
• Coronavirus Shutdown Gives Lightfoot Road Map To Chicago's Future
• My Sister The Nurse Is A Coronavirus Superhero Without Right Mask
• Coronavirus: Hey Wisconsin, Don't Make Illinois' Election Mistake
• Coronavirus: North Siders Just Won't Get It Until They Get 'It'
• If Parents Don't Obey Coronavirus Orders, Guilt Trips To Continue
• Not Even New Coronavirus Shut Down Can Stop Shootings In Chicago
• Pals Don't Let Pals Fall For Coronavirus Hoaxes On Social Media
• How To Talk To Your Stubborn Parents About Coronavirus Precaution
• Sick Guy On A Train And Other Scenes Of A Fearful Chicago
• How To Talk To Your Stubborn Parents About Coronavirus Precaution