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Call to Order – President Ted Gonsiorowski called the meeting to order and led in the Pledge of Allegiance.Sept 26 – Loren Tate and Jim Turpin

Invocation – David Hunter We thank Thee for this food, oh Lord, for friends and fami-lee. We pray the big debate tonight won't bloody up TV. Amen Vittles – B.B.Q ribs and chicken, potatoes, mixed vegetables, salad and toppings, breadsticks and butter, Chocolate Avalanche Cheesecake, tea and coffee.

Attendance – 22 members, 1 visitors. Guests – Larry (guest of Fonda Bowden); Matt Peters (Above, guest of Jay Hoeflinger). Birthdays – Shaughnessy Rice - 2 October.

Lions Report – Jim Smith is in the Rehab Center. If you are ill or know a fellow Lion that is under the weather, please call Pat Bryan at 586-4535.

Lottery – Pat Byran won the $13 lottery.

Announcements – Ted Gonsiorowski announced the Candy Day need for volunteers for Friday and Saturday, Oct. 19 and 20. Please contribute if you cannot volunteer.

Tom Yaxley gave an update for the Football Pool. We were 3rd out of 6 clubs and overall only better than last place. Ed Tichenor had 9 right.

Program – Charlie Osborne introduced Gordy Hulten, the Champaign County Clerk, who spoke on “Absentee voting.”

Previously, Gordy served as the Champaign City Council member for District 5. Active in the community, Gordy volunteers with the United Way of Champaign County, Champaign Rotary Club, and the Chamber of Commerce.

Gordy is a 2002 graduate of the University of Illinois, and lives in Champaign with his wife Pam and their children, Will and Cate. Pam is the Director of Resource Development at United Way of Champaign County.

Gordy has worked in government and politics for more than fifteen years. In 2002, he managed both successful Primary and General State Senate campaigns for Senator Rick Winkel, and has managed or consulted on hundreds of other federal, state, local and judicial campaigns.

The duties of the Champaign County Clerk’s office include Birth and vital records, tax bills, election administration, polling places and ballots.

Voter registration numbers are climbing, with 132,000 registered, 8,000 more than 2008. The database is now linked with all counties within the state.

This is one of few that checks carefully for deaths to remove from registration.

Gordy does not think photo ID is necessary, because he does not trust the Illinois Driver Liscense system and counties that will cheat will still cheat, while honest counties will just have more work.

Turnout for elections is about 20% for local election and 67% for Federal. Paper ballots are used in Champaign County and Federal elections require preservation for 22 months.

This election the judges will use laptop computers rather than paper to check you in. Polls close at 7pm, but everyone in line can still vote.

It takes time to have the numbers match.

They have to count write-in votes by hand and this takes the most time. Absentee voting is already occuring right now, but photo IDs are required for this.

Early voting starts Oct 22nd. Election Judges are paid $150/day if they take 4 days of training. They work 15 hours per day.

The law requires a balance of parties, Republican and Democrat.

Tail Twister – Tom Yaxley asked Pat Bryan to carry the bucket fined her for having won the lottery.

He fined Herb Bail for having his name spelled wrong by Weldon, who paid;

David Lin for leaving early (He had left money with Paul Kunkel);

Rex Hess for traveling too much.

His jokes were outstanding: “How do you get a Purdue Cheerleader into your dorm room? Grease her hips and push hard.”

Oct 10 - Tracy Lillard – Illinois State Police (Operation Fatal 4)

Greeters: Omer Benn and Pat Bryan

Oct 17 – Business Meeting

Click here osborne@bankchampaign.com to email Charlie Osborne and let him know what you would like to see in a Lions Club program some time.

Coming up

Thank you for watching

Editor

Rex Hess

Publisher

David Hunter

To email Dave with your comments, click here → hunter4000@comcast.net

To go to the our website, click here → http://www.champaignlions.org/