McLean County votes to keep elected auditor
BLOOMINGTON — McLean County voters have decided the office of the County Auditor should not be eliminated.
A similar question had been asked to voters 10 years ago . At that time, voters chose to retain an elected auditor for the county. According to unofficial results tallied Tuesday, about 55% of county voters once again chose keep the elected position.
Although counties with populations between 70,000 and 3 million are required by statute to have an office for a county auditor who shall be elected, the Illinois Constitution allows the office to be eliminated via countywide referendum . A total of 16 Illinois counties still have an elected auditor after Peoria County voters opted to eliminate theirs in 2022.
Proponents of the referendum argued the duties of the office of McLean County Auditor Michelle Anderson are redundant since the county uses an external auditor, CliftonLarsonAllen of Bloomington. Anderson, who has been in the office since 2007, ran unopposed during this election cycle. She could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Anderson previously argued the county's external auditing firm does not audit 100% of the county's finances each year. Instead, it pulls a small sample of transactions that amounts to less than 1% of total finances.
Before the votes were counted, McLean County Board Chair Catherine Metsker said whether there is an auditor or not, the county would need to evaluate whether there needs to be organizational changes if the role is eliminated. Metsker noted she might not be the person to drive that forward.
"Depending on the outcome of the election, I may be chair, I may not be chair," Metsker said. "We have to be cognizant (since) that certainly will change things. If we still have an auditor, we'll continue to work with our auditor, Michelle Anderson, and work to make sure the business of the county gets done."
In addition to McLean, Champaign County voters were also faced with a referendum to eliminate their county auditor this election year. However, unofficial results show residents would like to retain the position.
Roughly 60% of voters felt that the county auditor position should not be eliminated.
Champaign County Auditor George Danos also faced a challenge from Republican Alan Anderson during the general election. Danos received 43,738 votes to Anderson's 37,765, according to unofficial results.
Contact Drew Zimmerman at 309-820-3276. Follow Drew on Twitter: Love Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
Government Reporter
