A look at the Illinois county clerks’ association, who met in January to discuss new guidance from the Postal Service that has implications for voters — and the trust they put in election officials.

For a news website that covers, broadly speaking, “the political process,” the word declare might bring to mind a couple of images. One is the most famous piece of writing committed to parchment in American history. The other is a person speaking up; “stating emphatically,” as one definition goes.