A Park Ridge Park District facility will serve as an early voting site for the November general election.
Early voting, which occurs Oct. 24 through Nov. 7, will be offered at the Maine Park Leisure Center, 2701 W. Sibley St. in Park Ridge, according to the Cook County Clerk’s Office.
Open to all voters who reside in Cook County, early voting will take place at Maine Park from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Oct. 24 through 28, and on Oct. 29, Nov. 5 and Nov. 7. It will be offered from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 31 through Nov. 4, and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 30 and Nov. 6, according to the county.
Maine Park is the second Park Ridge location selected to host early voting since Cook County ended the service at City Hall last year. In the spring, early voting was offered for the first time at Maine Township Town Hall on Ballard Road.
James Scalzitti, a spokesman for the Cook County Clerk’s Office, said the location was changed to the Maine Park Leisure Center “because this location is more central and more easily accessible to voters of Park Ridge.”
Park Ridge Park District spokeswoman Margaret Holler said the Clerk’s Office approached park officials, asking to use a facility for voting purposes.
“The park district did not seek it out, but we are happy to provide a place,” Holler said.
Park District Executive Director Gayle Mountcastle told the park board on July 28 that voting will take place in the board’s former meeting room at the leisure center.
Park board commissioners discussed whether the park district should commit to hosting early voting long-term and develop an official policy, but they appeared divided during an Aug. 18 meeting.
“It’s not in our mission,” Commissioner Jim O’Brien said. “I don’t think we should do it. If [Cook County] wants to rent rooms, they should rent them like everyone else.”
Commissioners Cindy Grau and Board President Jim Phillips said they were not in favor of the park district setting a policy on hosting early voting; Commissioners Joan Bende and Richard Brandt suggested early voting be tried.
“We are a public body. We should provide the facilities,” Brandt said.
Mountcastle noted that Maine Park may not be able to accommodate voting in the spring due to plans to remodel portions of the building for program space now that board meetings and administrative offices have relocated to Prospect Park. She also told the board that a park district program may need to be eliminated during the time when early voting is taking place due to the space needs.
Park Ridge City Clerk Betty Henneman said she has not been contacted by the Cook County Clerk’s Office since they withdrew interest in City Hall, where early voting was offered since 2006.
“I don’t see [early voting] returning in the future, not with the letter they sent,” Henneman said.
Gail Weisberg, manager of voter services for Cook County, wrote to the city in January that the “number of voters has outgrown the space” provided at City Hall, 505 Butler Place.
Henneman said the county wanted to use the city council chambers for voting, but the need to secure the machines at night, combined with the need for meeting space during the week, made that impossible.
A complete list of Cook County suburban early voting sites for the November general election can be found at www.cookcountyclerk.com/elections/earlyvoting.
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune
