More than two dozen provisional ballots cast at Northwestern andsurrounding precincts for the March Illinois primary election werethrown away by Cook County officials after voters tried to vote inthe wrong precinct or were not registered properly.
The ballots were discarded in 12 precincts — two located onNU’s Evanston Campus and 10 in nearby neighborhoods where manystudents live.
Cook County election officers said two-thirds of the 25 invalidballots were thrown away because voters went to the wrong precinct.One-third were discarded because voters were not registered.
With 25 out of 30 provisional ballots discarded in the 12precincts, the percentage of such ballots thrown away in NU andnearby precincts was nine points higher than in Evanston.
The incident casts light on the need for voters to ensure theirregistration is up-to-date and that they cast their votes in thecorrect precinct, said Scott Burnham, spokesman for the SuburbanCook County Board of Elections.
Provisional ballots were introduced in 2002 as a backup measureafter problems were encountered in verifying voters’ registrationat the polls in the 2000 election. The law stipulates that aprovisional ballot can be filled out if a voter’s registrationcannot be found by poll workers. The ballot is counted afterofficials verify the voter’s identity.
When Meredith Kesner tried to cast her vote in the Illinoisprimary last March, she said the poll worker could not find hername on the registration roll for the precinct.
Kesner, Medill ’04, tried arguing with the poll worker for a fewminutes over whether she was really registered.
She offered her driver’s license, which was turned away becauseit was not issued by Illinois. She offered proof that she herselfhad been registering people to vote — a privilege that requiresbeing a registered voter as a prerequisite.
But Kesner was unsuccessful. Eventually, her friend, who hadworked on a political campaign and was familiar with the electionprocess, helped the poll worker arrange for Kesner to cast a paperprovisional ballot.
“We were both helping the person at the polling place,” Kesnersaid. “I have the distinct feeling (the ballot) was thrown outbecause they didn’t seem like they knew what they were doing.”
Cook County election officials maintain that their poll workerswere adequately trained in helping voters cast provisionalballots.
The application of provisional balloting rules differs fromstate to state. In some states, provisional ballots are countedregardless of where the ballot is cast. In other states,provisional ballots are discarded even if a voter is registered butcasts his or her ballot at the wrong precinct.
“The burden is on the voter to find the right place,” said DanSeligson, editor of Electionline.org, a non-partisan voter watchdoggroup based in Washington, D.C. “That ballot that was thrown out inIllinois might (have been) counted in Massachusetts.”
With the majority of provisional ballots discarded becausevoters tried to cast a ballot in the wrong precinct, it is crucialthat students and Evanston residents double-check the location oftheir polling place before they vote in national elections thisNovember, elections officials said. Students also must ensure theirregistration address is up-to-date if they have moved since thelast time they voted, Burnham said.
“I’m sure there are a lot of students who are registered to votein Evanston, but they registered prior to a previous election thattook place obviously before the new school year started,” Burnhamsaid. “It’s imperative that for anyone who has moved since theyregistered that they re-register using their current address.”
One-third of the provisional ballots were discarded becausevoters were not registered properly. In these cases, student votersmay have been registered in their home state but did notre-register in Illinois, Burnham said. He added that there wereeven some incidents of minors trying to vote.
In Evanston, some precincts were redrawn and some polling placeswere changed in August when a redistricting plan approved last yearby the city council took effect.
Students who voted in one place in March may be instructed tovote elsewhere — even if their address hasn’t changed. Registeredvoters will receive a card in the mail informing them of theirrevised polling place a few weeks before the November election,Burnham said.
But poll workers will provide voters with more direction thistime should they encounter problems, Burnham said. In pastelections, poll workers needed to call the election boardheadquarters downtown to determine a voter’s proper precinct.
This year, if voters still turn out to vote in the wrongprecinct on Nov. 2, poll workers will be equipped with a databaseof nearby precincts where voters should go to cast theirballot.
Reach Dan Strumpf at [email protected].
Quick facts:
Ballots were discarded in 12 precincts, with two on NU’sEvanston Campus.
One-third were discarded because voters weren’tregistered.
Provisional ballots were introduced in 2002 as a backupafter there were problems with verifying voters’ registration atthe polls in the 2000 election.
