Although Northwestern will get an on-campus polling place for the April 3 municipal elections, campus leaders said Wednesday that Cook County has not done enough to reduce long lines at the polls.
Cook County will move a polling place from the Seabury-Western Theological Seminary to NU’s Patten Gym to accommodate voters with disabilities, said Scott Burnham, a spokesman for the county clerk.
But Burnham said the county has rejected University President Henry Bienen’s request to move a South Campus polling place from the Evanston Public Library to Parkes Hall.
“We’ve moved this polling place on campus to make it more convenient for students and to make it wheelchair-accessible,” he said. “Ninety-six percent of polling places in Cook County are wheelchair accessible. The clerk has made it a priority to reach 100 percent.”
Most South Campus student voters live in the Sixth Precinct of the First Ward and vote at the library. During the November election, students waited in two-hour lines to cast their ballots, a result of incomplete paperwork and higher-than-expected voter turnout.
Burnham said about 1,500 people are registered to vote at the library, nearly three times the number at an average precinct. NU leaders had pushed county officials to split the precinct and move it onto campus.
“The county is taking a risk,” said Lucile Krasnow, NU’s community relations specialist. “It’s a foolish to think that students are not going to turn out for this very important election.”
Burnham said the county will add staff and equipment to the library location but will not split the precinct until after it redraws district lines from census data. After the election, he said, the county probably will split the precinct and consider moving a polling place onto campus.
But NU leaders said the county is playing a dangerous game in betting on low voter turnout.
“What happens when they’re wrong?” Krasnow asked. “Then, students’ rights to vote are violated because they don’t have time to wait for hours in line.”
NU student groups plan to kick off another voter registration drive Feb. 19 that would further increase the number of students registered to vote at the library. Student groups registered about 1,200 new voters during Fall Quarter, said Associated Student Government President Adam Humann.
“They should not be trumpeting (Patten) as, ‘Oh, look what we did for Northwestern,'” said Humann, a Weinberg senior. “The polling place that had the two-hour wait is still the same polling place. We’re trying to get people to vote, but we’re not getting anyone to help us.”
Kellogg Prof. Allan Drebin is challenging incumbent Ald. Arthur Newman for a seat in the First Ward, and student votes could be a deciding factor in the election.
To prepare for high voter turnout, the county will increase the number of personnel and add polling booths, Burnham said.
And ballots will be far shorter than in the November election, making it possible for students to vote more quickly, he said.
“We intend to double the number of election judges and polling booths,” Burnham said. “In essence, it will resemble two precincts in one. We think we’ll be ready for (students).”
Although Krasnow said the county could solve the problem by moving the polling place to Parkes Hall, Burnham said that proposal presented several problems for county officials.
Bienen had promised to make the hall accessible for the disabled, but the site currently cannot accommodate wheelchairs, Burnham said, adding that voters would have a difficult time finding parking places there.
