A new state law is changing the kind of identification badge that election judges and poll workers wear in Illinois in an effort to protect their safety.
Starting this year, the badges will no longer display the person’s name, ward, precinct, or township. Instead, they will wear badges with a unique identification number that say they’re authorized by their local court.
That was one of several changes made in an omnibus elections bill, House Bill 4488, Pritzker signed into law last month.
Tazwell County Clerk John Ackerman said at a news conference Thursday that the change is intended to protect election workers by deescalating potentially tense situations at the polls.
“When they approach the individual, they’ll talk to ‘Betty Sue’ differently than they’ll talk to an officer of the circuit court,” he said. “So that little pause … may give them time to think about what they want to say, how they want to say it, and just gives them the few minutes of pause before they continue.”
The Illinois State Board of Elections also provides emergency contact information that can be put on the back in case an incident does happen.
Election authorities say they are working to add protections in and around polling places as another layer of election security.
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