ZBA Chairman Appointed as New Chicago Board of Elections Commissioner
by Claudia Morell – [email protected]

Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Jonathan Swain will join the City’s Board of Elections, replacing Commissioner Langdon Neal, who resigned from the post effective December 31.

A majority of Cook County Circuit Judges approved the appointment forwarded by Chief Cook County Circuit Judge Timothy C. Evans. In a written statement, Evans said Swain’s appointment will ensure the city’s diversity is represented on the three-member board, “Swain, who is African-American, will join Marisol Hernandez, who is Hispanic, and William Kresse, who is Caucasian.”

Swain will forfeit his spot as Zoning Board chairman, a position he’s held since 2010, and finish out Neal’s three-year term expiring on November 30, 2017. He’ll receive an annual salary of $77,798.

Seven other candidates vied for the position, including Dick Simpson, a former alderman and Political Science Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.