Illinois county clerks believe approving a health care proposal from Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn would not be fiscally responsible.

Quinn has asked county boards in all 102 counties to approve placing an advisory referendum on the February primary election ballot asking voters whether the federal government should "be required to adopt mandatory full funding of the Department of Veterans Affairs for the purpose of ensuring that all eligible honorably discharged U.S. veterans receive quality and accessible health care."

In a letter to county clerks, Quinn said the issue of veterans' health care is of "paramount importance" to Illinois voters. Many county clerks agree with Quinn, but said costs for the county will be increased if any referendum is placed on the primary ballot.

Perry County Clerk Kevin Kern, who serves as treasurer of the Illinois Association of County Clerks and Recorders, said election costs are driven by the number of ballot styles that must be produced. With a referendum on the primary ballot, a non-partisan ticket would need to be printed in addition to specific party tickets.

Costs of the programming of the ballots, paired with printing expenses and newspaper listing publication, would cost each county thousands of dollars, said Jackson County Clerk Larry Reinhardt, who serves as president of the IACCR.

The increased cost is not the only concern of county clerks. Kern said since the referendum is advisory, it is simply meant to demonstrate support and would not create any binding effects.

"Advisory basically means it isn't worth the paper it was printed on," Kern said. Placing a referendum on the primary ballot would also require additional education and training for poll workers.

Quinn and his citizen support organization sent letters petitioning support for the referendums in September, stating that three counties, including Jefferson County, had already approved the referendum.

Jefferson County Clerk Connie Simmons said the county board did approve the referendum but did not consult her before doing so. She would have advised the board to discuss placing the referendum on the November 2008 general election ballot.

Reinhardt said a vast majority of county clerks in attendance at the IACCR's convention in September agreed that supporting a November referendum would be the preferred action.

After the September convention and the letter from Quinn, Kern sent a letter of response to the lieutenant governor, addressing some of his concerns and also showing support for the overall goal of the proposal.

"I think most all citizens would share Lt. Gov. Quinn's view that veterans' health care should rightfully be a high priority," Kern wrote in the letter. "Knowing that the lieutenant governor is also a watchdog for government waste and inefficiency, I would hope he would advocate that such a referendum be placed on a general election ballot when there would be much less added cost or confusion."

Kern has not received any responses yet, and representatives of Quinn's citizen support organization did not immediately return calls Tuesday.

adam.testa@thesouthern.com

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