Rock Island County Clerk serves East Moline, Moline, Rock Island, Silvis, and nearly a dozen villages, consisting of a population of over 144,000 people.
WVIK interviewed both candidates. You can find their full interviews at the bottom of the page and their responses transcribed below.
Introductions:
Maggie Crouch: Sure. I started back in 2007 with the County Clerk's Office as a Deputy Clerk II. I've worked my way up to Deputy Clerk III, and within the last four years was promoted to Chief Deputy County Clerk. My background is in elections, but I am cross-trained in all aspects of the County Clerk's Office. We do birth, death, and marriage records, delinquent taxes, tax assessment. And then, of course, birth, death, and marriage records. We issue those for anybody that died or was born here in Rock Island County. I'm running because I've been doing it for a long time. I've been in the office for 19 years. It's my background. It's what I know. I'm good at it. I enjoy doing it, and somebody needs to do it that knows the laws and how to follow the statutes and the guidelines that we're given.
Steven Rugh: Yes, I am Steven Rugh. I grew up in Dixon, Illinois, small town, also hometown of Ronald Reagan, just a past president. I became an Eagle Scout in Dixon, Illinois. Less than 2% of the Boy Scouts become Eagle Scouts, so it's something that takes a bit to become. I was also a youth group leader and tri-county animal shelter vice president, and I've been doing a lot of things that my wife told me once that I like doing a lot of bookkeeping and keeping track of numbers and such, and she said, 'you should do a job that does that.' So that's one of the reasons why I'm running for clerk is I'd like to make a difference here in Rock Island County.
And for listeners who may be unaware, can you share what the daily duties would be for the county clerk position?
Crouch: Sure. I mean, you know, when we talk about like elections, we make every decision that goes into our elections— early voting, offsite voting, Election Day voting hours, all of that stuff. So we try to keep all of those options open for voters because everybody should have a way to vote and express their vote. So we like to have as many options and hours for our public that we can.
Rugh: Yeah, there's a— the county clerk is really hard to define completely, but it takes care of all the vital records such as the birth and the death and the marriage certificates. A lot of vital records are taken care of there. They take care of the taxes, setting up the taxes and such, and also the most important part is the election. They take care of the process for the election, setting up the polling places, the judges, and taking care of the vote counts and such.
And if elected, what issues or topics would you like to address while being county clerk?
Crouch: I mean, one of the main topics is election integrity. You know, I believe everybody should have access to safe, secure elections. We like to be open. We like to get our election results out, not have any problems and follow the law.
Rugh: I'd like to do— be a little more transparent in the election process. I'd like to get rid of the ballot boxes that we have right now, it's something that fraud can be caused with those. I would like to also educate the public a little more on the election process. A lot of people are not voting. I mean, sometimes we get less than half of the population that are registered to vote show up to vote. And I've talked to a lot of people going door-to-door and finding out from people that they don't know about the election process and they're afraid of the electronic version. They're not sure if they're doing the cards right, and they're afraid to ask, you know, people. Sometimes they're afraid that they're going to get it wrong. And so there's a lot that I'd like to do with the election. Maybe do a— going throughout the county and having some town halls and talk about elections and answering questions for people and helping to educate people more.
And why should voters select you over your opponent?
Crouch: Honestly, because I've been doing it for 19 years. I know what I'm doing. I know every law. I know how to follow every law, every statute. I also save taxpayer money by not outsourcing a lot of the things that we do within the office. So I can keep that in-house and save taxpayer money.
Rugh: I'd like to see some change in the County Clerk's Office, being new eyes to be able to see some things maybe a little bit differently, maybe make some things more efficiently. She's been there for a while, and she might not see some of the things that somebody new comes in might see that, 'hey, we could try, you know, change this, or we could try this a little bit differently and maybe make things a little more efficient.' And when you're doing the same thing over and over, it's just not the best thing.
And at this point, is there anything you would like to share with voters ahead of the November midterm elections, anything I may not have asked you about?
Crouch: Not really. I mean, I just, I know what I'm doing. I'm proud of it. I stand behind my work, and I hope that the voters will too.
Rugh: I'd like to clean up the voter rolls a little bit better. There's an [Electronic Registration Information Center] ERIC system which they use. But it's a lot of relying on things that are not the best. Things can be changed down the way. AI might be able to be used a little bit more to help look into that, but you always have to double-check because even using AI, if you create a poster, there might be spelling errors or things might be backwards. And so there's a lot of things. It's not just following some of the systems, but you also have to look into them personally. The county clerk has to administer the elections according to the Illinois law. So it's some of the— I've got opinions on certain things, but it comes down to whatever the law is, is what I would follow. Always followed the rules and regulations and being a Boy Scout and Eagle Scout. I still follow Scout laws to this day.
Early voting is underway at the Rock Island County Clerk's office and its satellite locations on weekends. Find more information on the clerk's website. Election Day is November 3.
