Subtraction in St. Clair County

So the St. Clair County Board decided a guy with a pending drunk driving charge and who was charged with resisting a police officer and who was charged with felony vote fraud was not the right fit to be a colleague? Imagine that.

No arguments about innocent until proven guilty — James W. Haywood Jr. got out of the vote fraud and resisting charges after years of delays clouded the ability to convict him. No one defending his bona fides, a.k.a. delivering the votes even if he has to mark the ballots himself. No one arguing that maybe Haywood’s record made him a perfect fit in the Mark Kern Amen Choir and Head Nodding Society.

The biggest surprise is that Haywood’s nomination got to the full board before getting the spike. Woops.

So now the challenge is to pick someone without a near-felony record to replace Cahokia Mayor Curtis McCall Jr. on the County Board. We’re guessing the records check will be on the front end this time.

Speaking of vote fraud, county leaders also took a half step toward consolidating precincts and thus slimming the ranks of precinct committeemen. Freeburg-area Democrat Frank Heiligenstein proposed cutting 65 of the county’s 205 voting precincts, which would have saved about $300,000 every two-year election cycle by eliminating election judges.

Heiligenstein’s proposal was whittled from cutting 65 precincts to cutting just nine. Another six may go this month if they can get the Canteen Township consolidation map fixed. Total savings: Maybe $30,000.

Why save taxpayers a dollar when you can offer them a shiny new dime?

This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Subtraction in St. Clair County."