2007

	The Will County Clerk's office is pleased to offer a more convenient method to pay for many office services. We are now accepting debit cards for various office services such as death certificates, birth certificates, and marriage certificates. This service is being offered as a convenience via the VitalChek network which is the official source for government-issued vital records.  There is a $2.50 charge for each debit card transaction.
	We fulfilled our statute requirement and sent new Voter Identification Cards (must be replaced every two years) to the over 350,000+ registered voters in Will County.
	The Voter Registration Department collaborated with the state and other Illinois counties to reduce duplicate voter registrations in Illinois and Will County.  The statewide voter registration database now confirms duplicate registered voters in Will County which is a major improvement in accuracy of voter records.
	The County Clerk's Office Election Services Department completed a major office renovation and expansion project to improve the storage, preparation, and staging of election equipment prior to each election.  To learn more, Click Here.
	The Clerk's Office readjusted and combined precincts instead of splitting precincts to save taxpayer dollars and reduce elections costs.
	The Election Department now produces petition packets in-house, developed an On-Line Request Form, and provides more detailed instructions to help eliminate petition errors and objections.
	Two school districts in Will County have come on board with initiating “Institute Days” on Election Day for the security of the students and the availability to use the facility for voting.
	The County Clerk’s Absentee Department spent considerable time this year locating additional Early Voting sites throughout the county, as well as increasing the entities that can vote in some of the existing early voting sites.  This will be a convenience and service to the Will County voters in providing better opportunities to vote early.
	The Will County Clerk's office is pleased to offer a more convenient method to pay for office services. We are now accepting debit cards for various office services such as death certificates, birth certificates, and marriage certificates. This service is now being offered via the VitalChek network which is the official source for government-issued vital records.
	The Absentee Department streamlined local Clerk procedures for Early Voting sites, creating a CD or one list containing all pertinent voter information rather than two, very large and cumbersome lists.
	The County Clerk recruited more than 1,600 additional election judges, increasing our database for future elections.  This was accomplished by sending out judge recruiting flyers and press releases to areas in need of judges.
	The Vital Records Department (Marriage, Birth, and Death Certificates) installed a New Bradford filing system to replace obsolete storage files.  The new system takes up less room and can hold more documents.
	We successfully completed two major elections in 2007, the Consolidated Primary election in February and the Consolidated election in April which is considered to be the most difficult election.
	Used the 650 Ballot Counter for Central Count of absentee and early voting ballots.  Rather than sending absentee ballots to the precincts for the judges to process, they are now counted at the County building.
	For making sure people with disabilities could vote independently, the Will-Grundy Center for Independent Living awarded Will County Clerk Nancy Schultz Voots an Accessibility Achievement Award.  Voots was recognized for bringing the AutoMARK ballot marking system to each polling place in the county, allowing the disabled to vote independently for the first time in their lives. Voots, who has had two daughters with special needs, worked closely with local agencies to make sure she was buying the right equipment to serve those with disabilities.
	The Tax Extension Department in the County Clerk’s Office worked with the recently completed Geographic Information System to implement real time mapping of annexations and disconnections. Tax code boundary changes are now drawn on the tax code layer in GIS within one week of their filing making this information available to the Clerk's Elections Department and other offices in the county to view as they are doing their work. Real time mapping will allow the generation of a preliminary new property report approximately five months earlier than ever before.
	Notary Public - The signature registration process has been updated to notify new applicants in a more cost effective manner and the implementation of digital imaging of notary signatures has streamlined the process.
	The Clerk’s Office replaced existing tax code maps with digital versions. The township assessors received a mailing of maps for the first time in 2007 showing current tax year 2006 tax code boundaries. The Mylar and canvass tax code map books in the County Clerk’s office were replaced by current GIS versions in 2007 to show the tax year 2006-tax code boundaries. A wall map of the entire county was produced for the first time in 2007 to show all current tax year 2006 tax code boundaries.
	Annexation/Disconnections/Creation of Property by Taxing Districts is now being reported to the Illinois Department of Revenue On-Line. The electronic processing expedites and eliminates paper work for hundreds of documents– saves our environment, time and money.
	Business Location Verification – allocation of Sales Taxes to the correct city, village or municipality, is now being reported to the Illinois Department of Revenue On Line. This expedites and ensures that the correct Taxing District receives the proper allocation of Sales Tax Revenue.
	Tax Reports, ordered by accounting and research companies assisting the various Taxing Districts with: Debt Research and other financial needs are now available electronically as Excel Data Files. This expedites their research and financial evaluation of our Taxing Districts.

2006

	We successfully completed two major elections in 2006, the General Primary election in March and the General election in November which included turnout of over 46%. County Board member Ron Svara, R-Homer Glen, said Thursday in praise of Will County Clerk Nancy Schultz Voots . "I suggest we rent Nancy to Cook County for $300 an hour so she can show them how to conduct an election."
	The County Clerk revised Election Judge training and educational materials to provide focus and additional emphasis distributing correct ballots to voters. To meet statute requirements, the Clerk's Office also revised training classes for judges who have served more than two elections with the option of self study and mail-in tests for re-certification.
	To help educate Will County Voters the Will County Clerk's Office made Will County Township/Precinct Maps of Election Polling Place locations available on the office web site.
	Provided an updated forecast for additional space requirements for voting equipment storage and election preparation to the the Will County Executive's Office. To maximize existing office space two closets were converted into office space and a corner of the lobby was used as a reference/research room.
	Revamped and simplified the Notary Public process to eliminate many unnecessary steps and non-value added activities.  The new, simpler computerized process uses View Wise, which automatically generates a tri-fold card with a single entry to be mailed to the Notary, saving time and space.
	The County Clerk applied for for two additional grants which will be used for handicapped accessible voting booths ($14,282) and Federal Grant Funds (HAVA) to meet Title III Requirements, which will be used for additional education and training of election systems and voting equipment ($1,190,293).
	Approximately 3,500 Statement of Economic Interest filings were accepted in the County Clerk’s office between April 1, 2006, when notices were sent out and May 1, 2006.
	Accounts Payable worked diligently to simplify and streamline many office procedures. Examples include elimination of double entry in processing juror checks and election payroll for judges of election, election workers and polling places are now being processed through the County Clerk’s office, rather than the County Payroll Department.
	To educate the community of services available, the County Clerk developed a brochure describing the six major functional areas of the office.
	In May 2006, the Will County Directory was updated and copies were printed.  This reference/directory book formerly was updated every two years.  It is now available with the latest updates in booklet form and on the County Clerk website.
	Automated processing of Vital records (Marriage Licenses, Birth, and Death Certificates) using a new computer application called View Wise.
	For Phase III of the Election Management System, the Will County Clerk's Office implemented ES&S AutoMARK™ballot-marking technology for the March 21st 2006 General Primary Election that allows voters with disabilities and other special needs to mark an optical scan ballot privately and independently.

2005

	We fulfilled our statute requirement and sent new voter identification cards (must be replaced every two years) to the over 356,000+ registered voters in Will County.
	The County Clerk's Office published a new & improved searchable and printable reference yearbook, 2005-2006 Will County Directory of both Elected and Appointed officials in Will County.
	To satisfy Illinois statutes, the Will County Clerk's office presented a proposal during the June 2005 County Board meeting to split 62 additional precincts to address increased growth in voter turnout for each of the 24 Will County townships.
	To coincide with Tax Bills being mailed by the Treasurer's Office the County Clerk's Office updated Tax Extension Information including taxing district rate information, annexation, disconnection, budgets, levies, and abatements.
	The Clerk's Office launched an aggressive new marketing campaign to recruit and train more than 300 additional Election Judges required to meet the needs of a growing Will County.
	“HAVA”, the Help America Vote Act, requires a voting system at every polling place to accommodate the disabled by 2006. The County Clerk’s Office will research options, once approved by the Illinois State Board of Elections, as well as the grant funding to meet this requirement. These additional features will be implemented as Phase III of the new Optical Scan Election System prior to the 2006 Primary.
	The County Clerk's Office published a new & improved Voter Information Guide which included instructions for optical scan voting (including instructions for write-ins), specimen ballots for candidates and referenda, polling place locations, and some helpful tips when voting on Will county's new election system. The Clerk's office is always looking for ways to improve and help better educate the public and feel by making this publication available on the internet it will help Will County Voters be better informed.
	We've completed a February 22nd Consolidated Primary Election for 52 precincts in Will County and a countywide Consolidated Election on April 5th (historically the most difficult).
	Following Illinois Statute, the County Clerk's Office purged the voter registration files in January 2005 of inactive voters as defined by law.

2004

	We successfully completed two major elections in 2004, the Primary election in March and the Presidential election in November which included record turnout of over 74%.
	The County Clerk's Office replaced polling place voting booths for all 390 precincts to improve voter accessibility and visibility (lighting) using the new Optical Scan Voting system.
	Utilizing the latest image scanning technology, the County Clerk’s office implemented a new more efficient process for scanning Vital Records. Beginning with births, we are logging pertinent information from each record into a database for easy retrieval.  Eventually, all birth and death records for the county will be included in this database.
	The County Clerk's office headed by Nancy Schultz Voots received the Will County Auditor's Fiscal Responsibility Award. The department returned $126,703.00 or 10.4% of their budget.  Weber had complimentary remarks for Voots’ administration since she had “long hours, short deadlines, and lots of ground to cover in implementing the new optical scan voting system.”
	Over 3,000 individuals are required by statute to file Statements of Economic Interest annually.  The County Clerk’s office logged and filed these reports as well as updated the database for this group.
	Every two years, precinct committeemen are required, by statute, to appoint Judges of Election.  The County Clerk’s office prepared a list of judges to be presented in court for confirmation and appointment.  Following this procedure, judges received their commissions.
	Keeping the county’s Polling Place Directory up-to-date is a top priority for the County Clerk’s office.  We verified and took photos of all polling places within the county, assessed voter entrances to polling places, and made certain directions to polling places were accurate.
	The County Clerk's office completed an accessibility survey for every polling place to ensure that all polling places in Will County were accessible to those individuals who are disabled, as required by the State Board of Elections and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
	The County Clerk's office applied for and received grant money reimbursement from the Illinois State Board of Elections to make Polling Places more accessible for the disabled (i.e. ramps, doorbells, signs, & pen grippers).
	In March 2004, the County Clerk’s office successfully introduced Phase I of the new Optical Scan Voting System.  In July 2004, the office successfully implemented Phase II of the election system and installed a new ES&S Voter Registration System. This new system included modules to improve voter registration, absentee, economic interest, polling place, and judge of election processes. The installation project included data conversion, training, testing and other activities to ensure a smooth transition to the new system. Benefits included more efficient processes as well as improvements in data accuracy.
	The County Clerk's office applied for and received over $1.1M in grant money reimbursement from the Illinois State Board of Elections for the new Optical Scan Voting System. Under the provisions in Title I of the Federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA), counties can apply for funding to replace punch card voting systems and equipment in compliance with HAVA requirements.
	The County Clerk's office introduced the new ES&S Unity In-Precinct Optical Scan Voting System in all precincts for the General Primary Election on March 16, 2004.  Voots says, "This new system meets the many new legislative requirements of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), such as providing voters an opportunity to check for and correct ballot errors (over votes)"

2003

	We've added new services such as our new searchable and printable on-line 2003-2004 Will County Directory (elected and appointed officials). Just added: new quick links in the table of contents to make "jumping" to desired pages easier.
	We're pleased to announce we've re-designed the Will county Clerk's office website to improve navigation and information access.
	We’ve successfully completed two elections in 2003, the Consolidated election in April being historically the most difficult election.
	This summer, we added 19 new precincts bringing the total precincts in Will County to 390.
	We fulfilled our statute requirement of sending new voter’s identification cards to the 292,709+ registered voters in Will County.
	With the President signing the new federal law entitled “HAVA”, Help America Vote Act, the County Clerk’s Office has researched new voting systems to find the system that best fits the citizens of Will County and one that meets the requirements of HAVA.
	Several new state laws and bills signed by the Governor will greatly affect the election process. The County Clerk’s office has studied each of them to determine their impact to office procedures.
	With the implementation of the new County GIS system, our Tax Extension Department is busy splitting parcels for new annexations to make data more accessible on-line.
	A new system for scanning Vital records has recently been implemented in the office.
	On-line listings of Election Candidates and Referenda are now available on our web site prior to each election.
	Nancy proudly displays her mentors (see picture below) and the history of County Clerks Joseph Hartley, Clara Hartley Woodard and Jan Gould on our north wall.