Urbana 2020 Electoral Board: Maryalice Wu, Bill Colbrook, (not pictured: Phyllis Clark). Hearing Officer Deanna Mool, and City Attorney James Simon.

At least two complaints have been filed with the Illinois Attorney General in regards to the Urbana Electoral Board meetings held in early December, 2020.  I filed the following complaint myself on January 4th (click for full PDF):

And the Public Access Counselor (PAC) initiated a review on January 11th (click for full 31-page PDF):

Rita Conerly,a community organizer who is currently running for office in Champaign, also submitted a PAC complaint on December 8th, 2020 immediately after being denied the right to speak at the Urbana Electoral Board meeting held at 5:30pm earlier that day. 

Conerly wished to speak against the candidate objections upon Meghan McDonald (running for Ward 5) and Verdell Jones (running for Mayor).  Though Conerly had her hand raised in the Zoom conferencing app, Maryalice Wu cut off public input after just 30 minutes, so she and others were never allowed to speak.

The PAC also initiated a review based on Conerly’s complaint.  This (click for full 3-page PDF):

Together, the complaints allege:

  • The Urbana Electoral Board did not properly post notice of its meeting dates and times.
  • The Urbana Electoral Board did not make their final agenda available to the public before their first meeting.
  • The Urbana Electoral Board voted on an action-item without proper notice to the public.
  • The Chair of the Urbana Electoral Board, Maryalice Wu, improperly reduced individual public speaking time from 5 minutes to 3 minutes.
  • The Chair of the Urbana Electoral Board, Maryalice Wu, improperly reduced total public speaking time from 2 hours to 30 minutes.
  • The Chair of the Urbana Electoral Board, Maryalice Wu, denied multiple members of the public the opportunity to speak at the meeting(s).

The 2020 Urbana Electoral Board was comprised of:

  • Maryalice Wu, Ward 1, Chair
  • Phyllis Clark, Urbana City Clerk
  • William Colbrook, Ward 6

All three members are currently running for re-election in 2021.  Both Maryalice Wu and William Colbrook supported Mayor Marlin’s efforts to enact heavy-handed speech restrictions on the public at City meetings.  The same restrictions have resulted in dozens of residents being interrupted and muted for criticizing public officials or giving what Marlin refers to as “negative comments”.  Mayor Marlin and the Urbana City Council are now being sued for restricting the public’s right to speak at City meetings.

Open Meetings Act violations, if raised to a courtroom setting, can have the effect of undoing whatever official action was taken by the public body that committed the violation.  This is just one reason why careful observation of the OMA is important at meetings wherein important votes will be taken.

Multiple individuals from the public raised concerns about OMA compliance during public input at the Electoral Board meeting(s), but Wu did not issue any response or explanation for why she enforced more restrictive speaking limits than what is provided for in City Code.  Board members Phyllis Clark and William Colbrook also did not issue comment or explanation, nor did City Attorney James Simon or hired Hearing Officer Deanna Mool.

Check CU issued an article about the first Electoral Board meeting here:

Urbana Electoral Board Hearing Was a Clumsy Circus

Deputy Bureau Chief Laura Harter and Assistant Attorney General Teresa Lim are requiring a formal response to the Urbana Electoral Board Open Meetings Act complaints within seven days.

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