The State Board of Elections (SBE) is an independent agency of the U.S. state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The SBE, as an acronym, refers both to the eight-member bipartisan board of directors and to the agency that it oversees. The members of the SBE, who are appointed by the

Governor of Illinois The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its we ...

, in turn appoint an executive director who is responsible for the day-to-day management of the agency. The agency is headquartered in the state capital of Springfield, with a second headquarters in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In August 2016, the FBI announced that an SBE database containing

electoral roll An electoral roll (variously called an electoral register, voters roll, voters list, poll book or other description) is a compilation that lists persons who are entitled to vote for particular elections in a particular jurisdiction. The list is ...

information had been breached by a foreign hacker, possibly from Russia. Officials were still investigating whether the hacker was able to change any information in the database. A similar attack was made on a voter database in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Responsibilities

Illinois State Board of Elections circa 1981

The State Board of Elections administers the election laws of the State of Illinois. In this capacity, it oversees the local election commissions, accepts nominating petitions and certificates of nomination, certifies the names of valid candidates for election, accepts and cross-checks the vote totals reported after Election Day, and accepts financial disclosures from the candidates' campaign committees.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1973 establishments in Illinois Government agencies established in 1973 Illinois elections Election commissions in the United States

Elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...