VOTING IRREGULARITIES IN CHICAGO

Voters who hoped to participate in the Illinois'
first ever statewide Green Party primary are
receiving a very rude reception at many polling
places, especially in Chicago.

In the early hours of voting, Green Party
officials began receiving reports from frustrated
voters across the state who, in many cases, had
been told by pollworkers that there are no Green
Party ballots available at their polling places,
or that they had to vote on suspect electronic
voting machines, even while other parties use
paper ballots.

Some of the most outrageous incidents, however,
occurred across the wards of Chicago, where Green
Party ballots have been apparently tampered with
so they can't be read and accepted by voting
machines, voters are given Democratic ballots
despite requesting Green ballots.

What follows are a few examples of reports. Check
http://www.ilgp.org for more reports as they are
received. More information will also be available
at the Green Party gathering tonight at Decima
Musa Restaurant, 1901 S. Loomis, Chicago (in
Pilsen).


1st WARD, 26th PRECINCT

A voter reports that all of the Green Party
ballots had been folded in half, causing them to
not feed through the machine properly. The
Republican and Democratic ballots were not
folded. Because his first ballot kept getting
rejected by the machine, the voter was asked by
pollworkers to fill out another Green Party
ballot, which also had been previously folded.
That ballot was not able to be read and was
rejected as well.

25th WARD, 8th PRECINCT

Pollworkers didn't have any green ballots
available and were asking voters if they wanted a
Democratic or Republican ballot (but not Green
ballots).

25th WARD, 24th PRECINCT

A voter asked for a Green Party ballot three
times, and was given a Democratic paper ballot
each time. Finally, on the fourth time, the voter
was told only touch screen available for Greens.

31st WARD

Mary Ann Esler, Green Party Committeewoman in the
31st Ward, went in to vote in the Green Primary
this morning. The election judges refused to give
her a Green Party ballot. The Democratic Precinct
Captain, who was supervising the judges told them
that there were no ballots for the Green Primary
because the Green candidates were running
unopposed.

The confrontation ended when Mary found the
ballots hidden under some papers on the judge's
table. The judges then went into a big huddle
with the Democratic Precinct Captain while Mary
marked her ballot.

35th WARD

Jeremy Karpen, live blogging from the 35th Ward
polling place, gives the following reports:

9:00am: After reporting an election judge for not
orally offering Green Party ballots (when he is
offering Dem and Rep) he was visited by the Board
of Elections and then he called me [an
expletive]. I asked him first to either list all
three ballots or simply ask people what ballot
they prefer, he said "I can if I want to."

9:09am: Craig (my committeeman and roommate) was
just handed a "green" democratic ballot and got
all the way to the little voting booth before he
realized what had happened. Dear lord.

9:45am: The Election Judge, who now seems to have
an attitude, when asked if Green is a real party,
said "unfortunately" and stated that it "isn't a
real party." The person he was talking to was an
electioneer for Bradley's campaign and not a
voter but there certainly were other voters in
the room.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=188400239&blogID=354973039

47th WARD

A voter was told there were no Green Party
ballots. During a call to report the incident,
the pollworkers told him that he could vote using
an electronic voting machine, but they did not
have any paper ballots available (although paper
ballots were available for the Republican and
Democratic parties).


50th WARD, 5th PRECINCT

Green committeeman reports that the election
judge is only offering Republican and Democratic
ballots.


COOK COUNTY, NORTHBROOK

An election judge reports that judges were
instructed to keep a tally of Green voters on a
tally sheet that numbers up to 50. There is no
such tally for the Democrats and Republicans.


COOK COUNTY, NORTHFIELD TOWNSHIP, 44th PRECINCT

A voter writes: "At approximately 11:30 am, at
the polling place at 74 Park Drive, Glenview,
Green Party ballots were still in shrink wrap, in
the box, in the cabinet. Officials at the desk
were indignant about my disappointment, and
challenged me to "have credentials" in order to
register my complaint.

DUPAGE COUNTY, MILTON TOWNSHIP, 28th PRECINCT

A pollwatcher reports that and election judge
asks voter "which parties' primary ballot do you
want?" The voter seemed confused by the question
and the judge clarified by stating "Republican or
Democrat". The pollwatcher immediately
interjected and corrected the judge and asked her
to please state all three parties in the primary
from now on.


DUPAGE COUNTY, MILTON TOWNSHIP, 44th PRECINCT

A voter writes: "A judge repeatedly tried to give
me a Democratic ballot, which I refused. The
Green ballots were still wrapped up and semi-out
of sight. As I approached the tables, I could
hear only "Republican or Democrat?" over and
over.

JACKSON COUNTY, MURPHYSBORO, 12th PRECINCT

A voter writes: "As I was leaving, the head lady
was making a call about getting more Green
ballots because they had only been sent three and
at 7:30a they had already used 2 of them and she
was worried about a run on Green voters."

MORE REPORTS AVAILABLE ON ILGP.ORG AS THEY COME
IN.

Illinois Green Party http://www.ilgp.org

CONTACT:
Patrick Kelly, ILGP Media Coordinator,
773-203-9631, media@ilgp.org
Phil Huckelberry, Chair, ILGP Government &
Elections Committee, 309-268-9974,
phil.huckelberry@ilgp.org