Election officials predicted Tuesday that voter confusion, late returns and perhaps even counting errors would plague the March 17 primary because new legislative, congressional and judicial districts don`t mesh with old city and suburban precincts.
”We have a nightmare coming in this election,” warned Thomas Leach, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
”It`s a problem that`s being encountered statewide,” added Dan White, assistant executive director of the State Board of Elections. ”The redrawn maps did not follow traditional political boundaries, or even physical boundaries in some cases, as they had in the past.”
The new maps for seats in the General Assembly, Illinois` representatives in Congress and new judicial districts were based instead on census data, which don`t take into account the traditional precincts in which people vote. In previous redistrictings, which are held every 10 years, local officials usually had enough time to redraw precinct boundaries to avoid or minimize the problem. But this time, political and legal squabbling dragged out approval of new boundaries for all 177 General Assembly seats until mid-January.
As a result, county clerks and other election officials did not have time to redraw the voting boundaries to avoid many split precincts. While there may be problems in congressional, legislative and judicial elections, the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate and the presidential primaries should not be affected because those races are statewide.
Eventually, suburban officials said, they will be able to redraw boundaries to reduce the number of split precincts. But Chicago officials said it would take much more work and public education to realign the city`s voting districts.
Regardless of the long-term future, most election officials in the Chicago area are girding for more problems than usual on March 17.
The problems appear to be most severe in Chicago and suburban Cook County, where voters are heavily concentrated and where new judicial districts provide yet another set of dividing lines to split precincts.
In all, 460 of the 2,912 Chicago precincts have been split by redistricting, compared with the normal three or four, said Leach of the elections board.
As an example of the confusion caused by split precincts, when Chicago voters in the 48th precinct of the 32nd Ward go to the firehouse at 1129 W. Chicago Ave. on March 17, they will find election judges handing out five different ballots.
Suburban officials also have had to print many more different ballot forms and prepare for Election Day confusion.
”Ten years ago, we had 402 precincts in Lake County, and only one of those was split at the County Board level,” said County Clerk Linda Hess.
”This time, we have 382 precincts, and 22 are split. It makes voting much more difficult and increases the chance for mistakes.”
Cook County Clerk David Orr, whose office oversees elections in suburban Cook, said that in the 1988 and 1990 primaries, his office printed 200 different ballot forms to accommodate about 30 split precincts.
But this year the office is printing 307 ballot forms for about 400 split precincts, he said.
”You`re going to have neighbors walking in and voting for different congressional and judicial candidates,” Orr said. ”The bottom line is, for the average folks, it makes it extremely difficult.”
In Du Page County, the problem does not appear as serious, with 74 of the 663 precincts split by redrawn districts. The number is comparable to previous elections, said a spokesman for the Du Page County Board of Election Commissioners.
The increased number of split precincts also will force election officials to be careful handing out ballot forms on Election Day to ensure that voters don`t get the wrong forms.
But inevitably, mistakes will be made, officials acknowledged.
”We have every confidence in all of the election officials, but certainly it will increase the chance of problems,” said White of the State Board of Elections.
Even if voters and election judges perform properly, counting the ballots may take much longer this year.
Orr said that in some instances, the split precincts have pushed the list of candidates running from different districts past 312, the total that the county`s computer program can handle. In those cases, Orr said, Democratic results will have to be counted on one program, and Republican totals will have to be counted on another. That will increase the tabulation time.
To avoid confusion that could compound counting problems, Orr said his office will encourage voters to cast their ballots between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., traditionally the slow time on Election Day.
Lake County`s Hess said the problems that election officials and voters will encounter March 17 are a good argument for setting an earlier deadline for the redistricting process to end so local officials can account for any changes.
In other election matters Tuesday, Orr said he, like some other election officials statewide, will miss the Monday scheduled start for absentee voting because the last challenges to candidates` names appearing on the ballot were resolved only Friday by the State Board of Elections. Orr said he hoped absentee voting could start Feb. 28 in suburban Cook.
And the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners said it will vote Thursday on a new plan to end the practice of having at least one police officer on duty in each of the city`s precincts on Election Day.
Michael Hamblet, board chairman, said the board wants to try a new plan that would leave on-duty police officers in only about half of the city`s precincts, with the remainder being under the jurisdiction of so-called
”roving” squads of officers assigned to cover up to seven precincts each.
The plan, which would save the city about $600,000 in salary and overtime costs for police officers, was bitterly opposed Tuesday by several aldermen, who said that the presence of uniformed police is a deterrent to intimidation, electioneering and hooliganism in polling places.
”It`s like putting out a red flag and saying, `Hey, there`s not going to be any police around,` ” said Ald. Carole Bialczak (30th), during a meeting of the City Council Police and Fire Committee.
