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Illinois

* Press release from May…

DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek announces “Vote Anywhere” Election Day voting for 2022. DuPage will be the first county in Illinois to launch the option for voters to cast a ballot in any one of its 263 polling places, instead of limiting the choice to a voter’s precinct polling place or vote center.

“Now voters may cast their ballot conveniently at a polling place near their job or school, instead of rushing to or from their home precinct,” County Clerk Kaczmarek says. “Best of all, DuPage voters will no longer be turned away on Election Day for being in the wrong polling place in the county.” […]

“Two developments late in 2021 combined to create “Vote Anywhere” Election Day. In October, our office purchased the new Hart Verity complete print-on-demand voting system, so we no longer need to stockpile pre-printed ballots at polling places for just three or four precincts. After check-in, each voter now receives their freshly printed ballot on site. In November, the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation allowing each county to set up multiple vote centers where residents from all over the county can vote outside their home polling places on Election Day,” County Clerk Kaczmarek says.

* Chicago Tribune…

Following a primary where problems popped up at polling places citywide, Chicago election officials are preparing to shrink the number of voting precincts by nearly 40% and are squeezing the cuts in just months before the contentious midterm election in November. […]

Officials with the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners said the recalibration is expected to save as much as $2 million because the board will have fewer supply costs and won’t need to hire as many election judges to work the polls on Election Day. A spokesman for the board also said the cuts will help election officials focus on ensuring that more precinct polling locations are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, work the city has been slow to address. […]

[Ami Gandhi, a senior counsel for voting rights with the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights] noted that in the June primary some voters were turned away from voting on Election Day after the city announced weeks earlier that 73 precincts would be without polling places and 56 polling places opened late primarily due to election judge shortages. […]

Diana Thomas, 59, has lived on the same block in the 34th Ward for decades and prefers to vote in person. But when she showed up this past June shortly before the polls closed, she found herself in the wrong place. Her polling place had changed in 2020, and she said the security guard at the Wentworth Commons apartment building, where she voted for years prior, couldn’t help her. Without time or a way to find the right polling place, Thomas wasn’t able to cast a ballot in the primary. […]

Since 2012, there have been 2,069 precincts. Under the cuts that are about to occur, the number of precincts citywide will drop to 1,290, officials say.

* The Question: Should Chicago and other Illinois jurisdictions adopt DuPage-style “Vote Anywhere” election day procedures? Make sure to explain your answer. Thanks.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:03 pm

Comments

Let’s see how this plays out for DuPage before expanding it. I can’t help but fear a lot of logistical problems, especially in the City.

Comment by Norseman Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:10 pm
This is a great idea. With the use of optical scan ballots this is relatively easy and allows people to vote more conveniently. It will make some recounts slightly more complicated, but that’s relatively easy to address.

Comment by ArchPundit Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:13 pm
Yes.It worked like a charm in DuPage -lots of advantages - eliminates sending voters to another polling place, allowing voting near work/school vs. home very convenient - don’t need to get to the polls at 6 am. only potential disadvantage is that some polling place could have an unexpected volume of voters

Comment by Donnie Elgin Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:13 pm
Sounds good to me. The reason we’ve had precinct polling places was to make sure everyone had teh correct ballot; if that isn’t an issue, let’s just make sure voting is as convenient as possible.

When I worked as an election judge, my precinct place shared a room with another precinct. Many voters didn’t know which one was theirs, and a sizable number waited in one line only to discover that they should have been in the other.

Comment by Benjamin Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:20 pm
Yes.

Will County has something similar. There are a few polling places that are open starting on the day when early voting starts, and stay open every day until election day. Anyone in the county can vote at this location. There are also ballot drop-off boxes at the location. I voted this way in the presidential elections here in 2020.

The Will County Clerk seems to be using a similar setup with the print on demand ballots at this location. There is no stockpile of physical ballots needed, the election judge prints your specific ballot based on your registered address. This seems like it saves a lot of administration time and costs just in the waste of previously having to print out physical ballots that are often never used.

This setup has been used here for other elections as well, but I’ve voted by mail since that time so I can’t speak to how it’s been going since from experience, but the Will County Clerks office seems to be on the ball and making it work.

With a competent county Clerk, any county should be able to do this. If there’s a downside, I haven’t heard it.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:22 pm
Privacy is another advantage of allowing voting in the primaries at any polling place. I once had a nosy next-door neighbor who was an election Judge at my home polling place, he was way too interested in which ballot I pulled.

Comment by Donnie Elgin Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:27 pm
Yes.

Eliminates sending people across a ward, or depending when the voter tries to vote, across the city to cast their ballot. This, coupled with boxes to return vote by mail ballots, will eliminate excuses about convenience (or lack thereof) as a barrier to voting.

Comment by Mick Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:28 pm
===Chicago election officials are preparing to shrink the number of voting precincts by nearly 40%===
When did they get taken over by the GOP? /S

Comment by Bruce( no not him) Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:28 pm
Agree with @Norseman. Good to see how this plays out in DuPage County. In the meantime, Cook County should have mega-sites open on election day for anyone to vote at like they did in 2020 at the United Center.

Comment by Hot Taeks Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:29 pm
“Should Chicago and other Illinois jurisdictions adopt DuPage-style ‘Vote Anywhere’ election day procedures?”

Yes.

If the system had been any significant problems in Illinois’ second-most populous county, I’m sure we’d have heard someone squawking about it by now.

– MrJM

Comment by MisterJayEm Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:29 pm
“Good to see how this plays out in DuPage County”

It already played out in the June Primary - The new system worked well with no major issues reported.

Comment by Donnie Elgin Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:32 pm
The ballot-on-demand printing process seemed ever so slightly slower than just having a stack of paper ballots.

Without knowing the cost of the new system vs. printing costs of the old system- it’s hard to suggest other counties follow.

As mentioned in the linked release, DuPage also mailed all voters earlier this year a permanent vote by mail application.

Comment by jimbo Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:32 pm
Yes, absolutely. It’s 2022, we have the technology to make things easier on people.

BUT.

Let’s make sure we do it very deliberately. There are undoubtedly some unexpected logistical problems, and while those can be conquered, so let’s move slow enough to…well, conquer them.

Comment by Arsenal Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:33 pm
Addendum: The scanner machines are new as well. For the first time it asked me if I meant to undervote- had to press accept or return.

One thing that I didn’t like was the ballot is now inserted face up. There’s no way the attendant working the machine could catch all my votes but they certainly could one or two if they wanted. Wasn’t a big deal, but felt…weird.

Comment by jimbo Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:37 pm
I like this idea. The fact that it will make the loony conspiracy theorists flip out even more is an added bonus.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:41 pm
Absolutely. I can use a credit card anywhere in the world. I can ACH money from anywhere in the world. I can do any manner of secure transactions anywhere in the world.

I can only voice my opinion, one among thousands, in my school down the street?

Comment by Save Ferris Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:42 pm
Chicago Board of Elections has a much larger jurisdiction and does not have the best track record for implementing new things…however, if they can pull it off, they should absolutely move towards this.

If precinct voting locations close, they should find different locations and not just shutter the precinct. The Cook County Clerk was able to identify closures early and adapt.

Illinois Democrats should be very upset at the City about this, because it will impact their vote totals in November. They better hope it’s not by a large margin…

Comment by NIU Grad Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:49 pm
Jimbo–In McLean County, we give the voter a privacy cover for their ballot. They place the cover so the election judge only sees the initials in the upper right corner. The initials are those of the judge who handed the ballot to the voter. They are in red ink which the machine does not read. The voter inserts the ballot into the tabulator and hands the privacy cover to the judge and the cover can be given out again to another voter.

Comment by Nearly Normal Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:53 pm
Yes. If DuPage can do it everyone else can too.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 2:55 pm
–Allowing only select jurisdictions’ residents to have more voting rights is unequal.–

It’s a state law. The state gave the power to the counties, and it’s up to individual counties to implement. Many counties still get angry about ‘unfunded mandates from the state’, even when those things are just basic public services.

It should be a mandate in my view, but right now it is what it is.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 3:02 pm
Good luck trying to do a local recount, recovering ballots from any number of locations, one here, two there, thirty over there, twenty-six in the next town, fifteen at the other end of the county, etc.

Comment by Anon III Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 3:04 pm
“It should be available to everyone in Illinois. Allowing only select jurisdictions’ residents to have more voting rights is unequal”

That’s a nice sentiment, but in IL elections are administered locally…
“Elections are administered locally by the state’s 108 election authorities. These are the county clerks in 101 counties, one county election commissions and 6 municipal election commissions. These local authorities are a very important part of Illinois’ election process. As part of their many responsibilities they handle local voter registration programs, train election judges, select polling places, get ballots printed, oversee Election Day activities, and supervise the vote count at the local level”

https://elections.il.gov/electionoperations/electionauthorities.aspx

- so doen thold you breath.

“

Comment by Donnie Elgin Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 3:04 pm
@Anonymous 3:01pm:

So one of the 102 counties should be able to block this everywhere else? State law allows it. That’s enough.

Comment by Socially DIstant Watcher Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 3:04 pm
As a DuPage county voter, I am very satisfied with how they have handled voting. I have been able to request a vote-by-mail ballot for elections for years and just recently signed up to have a vote-by-mail ballot automatically sent for all elections. I get a text when it is mailed to me and I get a text when they receive the returned ballot. This should be how it is done nationwide.

Comment by Nathan Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 3:08 pm
I voted in DuPage for the primary, which used this system. After signing in they print a ballot based on your address.

My thought was they were placing a lot of faith in the printer not breaking down. But they may have had a backup somewhere.

Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 3:18 pm
Yes.

There will need to be a timeline, training, and funding, but this is the logical way to go.

One important aspect will be to have backup equipment that can be quickly deployed when something breaks.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 3:37 pm
Yes. Easy. Yes.

Anything to make voting easer.

That’s it.

It’s a yes. Embrace democracy.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 3:38 pm
Yes.
Anything that will make voting more convenient will undoubtedly increase voter turnout. More eligible voters voting is always a plus.

Comment by Teacher Lady Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 3:42 pm
It’s a no-brainer yes for me to introduce a “Vote Anywhere” within the county measure.

Comment by Justin Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 3:42 pm
In the primary this year, Chicago early voting sites remained open on election day and anyone could vote at one. This was a modified version of vote anywhere.

Comment by Chicago J Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 3:44 pm
Whoa there. This can’t possibly be an idea that trp would go for. So many possibilities for voter fraud. /s

ILQOP melt down in 3 … 2… 1 …

Comment by Huh? Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 4:39 pm
This should definitely be implemented everywhere.

Can we implement Champaign County last? No way Aaron “Yes I was a heroin dealer” Ammons could possibly do this on his own. Everything he touches is an unmitigated disaster. That he is counting votes should be frightening to anyone who values democracy . . . . . .in either party.

Comment by It’s All Good Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 4:54 pm
have you experienced the system in Chicago? I’d say baby steps. Make it a one site per ward experience. and go from there. Poll watching it seems difficult for some judges to find the exact ballot that someone should have. also, cost to change the system. don’t know what that is, so, again, baby steps.

Comment by Amalia Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 5:00 pm
Yes, I would have really appreciated this when trying to vote against Trump in the 2016 primary. Visited my polling place three times and downtown twice and I never got to vote as they kept running out of GOP ballots.

Comment by Lurker Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 5:00 pm
In principle, yes, it should be considered statewide - meaning you should be allowed to vote at any polling place in your home county.

Not literally “vote anywhere.”

To the item about Chicago, I’m curious why eliminating hundreds of polling places isn’t being met with cries of “voter suppression” and racism. Isn’t this making it harder for Black and Brown folks to vote? Why is the act of casting a ballot in person becoming harder?

Comment by JB13 Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 5:32 pm
===eliminating hundreds of polling places isn’t being met with cries of “voter suppression” and racism===

If it was happening in Texas it likely would be. Chicago elections board gets away with a lot

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 6:09 pm
It may be a good idea, but having worked as an election judge,I would want to hear more details on how the voter verification process would work with this.

Comment by RNUG Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 6:16 pm
This is exactly how we do it in the early voting polling locations and Election Day voting centers. Expanding “vote anywhere” is a great idea and should be done, although smaller, less prosperous counties need help with the capital outlay required to pull it off.

The last time my county purchased ballot tabulators it was through a purchase of either DuPage or Kane hand-me-downs and was a nice upgrade for us.

Comment by yinn Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 6:21 pm
If Chicago can’t staff polling places, then they have to do the consolidation, or other options within current laws. But should they do the consolidation right before an election? Probably not, but CBE might have forgotten how little time they have to plan and implement with the moved-up primaries this year; sorta of a blind spot in their thinking like for some campaigns. Hope those are high-speed printers they bought to turn out all the ballots also.

Comment by thisjustinagain Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 6:24 pm
Well it will make palm cards bigger for those handing them out on Election Day. You will have to include every possible candidate on every card. But that half percent (at the most now) any down ballot candidate will pick up has already been disbursed anyway with early voting and mail in ballots.

Comment by Been There Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 6:43 pm
From a poll watchers view point it will also be tough to see whether the ballots are correct. That was always the first thing any watcher did when the polls opened. But since it’s electronic I guess that point wouldn’t be a consideration if it can be audited back.

Comment by Been There Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 6:48 pm
Great idea.
Making it easier to vote is what a properly functioning society should want to do.

Comment by btowntruth from forgottonia Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 7:22 pm
Been There - Except for the 13th Subcircuit in the Northwest suburbs won’t have to expand the palmcards for judicial elections since there are no Republicans running. On retention just list the “No” votes.

Comment by West Side the Best Side Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 7:48 pm
Madison County has a similar system for early voting. They scanned the back of my drivers license and my ballot printed out within seconds. It seems to work well here.

Comment by Southern Illinois Bob too Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 8:08 pm
@It’s All Good

=Can we implement Champaign County last? No way Aaron “Yes I was a heroin dealer” Ammons could possibly do this on his own. Everything he touches is an unmitigated disaster. That he is counting votes should be frightening to anyone who values democracy . . . . . .in either party.=

Just to let you know, it was implemented in Champaign County in the 2022 Primary in June. Anyone could vote at any primary location with print on demand ballots. It worked really well for me as it saved a special trip to the polling location as I was able to vote on the way to a softball game.

To the post: the election judges didn’t have any problem at all with verifying my identity with laptops that had all of the necessary voter registration information right in front of them.

Comment by Radio Frequency Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 8:29 pm
Hopefully they finally have it right. The last time they paid a lot of money for a new computerized system, they didn’t try it out before election night. When the polls closed, it was discovered the new equipment was incompatible with their existing computer system. The ballots had to be physically picked up by The DuPage Sheriff’s Police, transported to Wheaton, and counted by hand. The entire state results were in a few hours after the polls, EXCEPT DuPage County. DuPage County results were late the next morning. When asked about what went wrong, the response was along the lines of “we were told it would be simply plug and play.”

Comment by DuPage Monday, Aug 22, 22 @ 9:41 pm
Republicans on the county board initially didn’t support replaced the old equipment with the Hart system. When it was explained that this system only prints ballots as needed as opposed to contracting out for 10 to 20% more blanks that were not only more costly but could be used for fraud they voted for it. The only extra ballots printed should be for spoiled ballots which are easy to account for.

Comment by markg8 Tuesday, Aug 23, 22 @ 5:29 am
If not now, when? Props to Proft.

Comment by PublicServant Tuesday, Aug 23, 22 @ 5:34 am
It seems that many small counties are almost there. I know the county where my mother lives between handicap assessable issues and sites dropping off b/c of covid worries they were down to very few large voting sites with many precincts. They are always short judges it may solve lots of problems.

Comment by Annon3 Tuesday, Aug 23, 22 @ 8:19 am