Politics: The unanswered question is WHO kicked Sam Polk off the voter rolls

Here’s why we know about WHAT happened to Peorian Sam Polk two years ago: He tried to vote on election day, but was told he wasn’t registered.

Here’s what we know about WHY it happened and WHO did it: Nothing. It drives me crazy when I encounter this “mistakes were made” attitude. Something bad happened, but no one is being held responsible. Dumping a long-time voter from the roles is an act of God is no like a hurricane or Earthquake. Somebody either messed up or somebody did something nefarious.

Mary Harkrader, quoted extensively in the article, was one of the election commissioners at the time. The article links what happened to Polk with nationwide efforts to tamp down Democratic turnout by kicking voters in mostly black neighborhoods off the voting rolls. Polk is a 73-year-old Black man who has lived in the same North Peoria neighborhood for 18 years and never had a problem voting.

Harkrader, a Democrat, isn’t likely to want to see fewer Democratic voters.

But the executive director at the time was Jeanette Mitzelfelt. She’s a Republican. She was fired by the election commissioners in December 2006, a month after Polk was denied the right to vote. The reasons were never made clear, although I speculated at the time it was because they weren’t happy that Mitzelfelt — an appointee of a bi-partisan board — was running for partisan political office, the Peoria County Clerk’s job.

I’m wondering how responsibility Harkrader and other commission members put on Mitzelfelt for what happened. As executive director, she had more day-to-day control over voter rolls than anyone on the commission.