Voting Hours Extended At 5 Chicago Polling Places

CHICAGO — A rash of problems at polling places around Chicago on Tuesday forced voting hours to be extended at five locations in the city. Issues that have arisen have included voting centers with incomplete ballots or that were short-staffed.

A Cook County judge agreed to a request made by the Chicago Board of Elections to extend voting hours for five city precincts. The affected polling locations include:

• 9th Ward's 20th and 31st precincts, 9912 S. Princeton Ave., and 11300 S. Indiana Ave., respectively (election supplies sent to wrong polling place): Open until 8 p.m.
• 2nd Ward's 46th precinct, 1711 N. Cleveland Ave. (inadequately staffed polling place): Open until 8 p.m.
• 20th Ward's 22nd precinct, 6360 S. Minerva Ave. (hour delay following brief absence of election judges): Open until 8 p.m.
• 19th Ward's 12th precinct at Murphy's Windows (ballot problems): Open until 9 p.m.

ProPublica's Electionland project, which is partnering with Patch for the midterm elections, had received complaints about voting problems at the following precincts:

• 2611 W 48th St.
• 48th and Martin Luther King Drive
• 5249 S. Wabash Ave.
• 1120 W. 122nd St.
• 2417 W. 43rd St.
• 1845 W. Rice St.
• 1429 W. Wellington Ave.

Voters at those locations said they did not receive a second page of the ballot when they went to vote, with some not realizing the mistake until after they had finished voting. One voter also claimed the Wabash Avenue polling place opened 20 minutes late.

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• Chicago Sees Huge Turnout For Early Voting

"I was not given the second page of the ballot (ballot measures and judge retentions)," wrote a voter at the Luther Terrace location at 48th and MLK. "I had to ask for it, but the poll workers were not aware of its existence. They had to go to their supply locker and look for it. They found it and I was able to vote . However, i was there at 7 a.m., so that means all the voters before me did not get that second sheet. They didn't even offer it to the other people in the room."

A voter at the Wellington Avenue polling place complained that she wasn't given the second page of the ballot even after saying it was missing.

"I was illegally prevented from voting on the issues," the voter wrote. "The election officials at this polling election were turning people away telling them they couldn't register to vote today because they [weren't] given the proper machine. The staff is untrained and inept.

"I also asked why I wasn't in the voter registration e-book and the Board of Elections employee told me maybe the software didn't synch in time. I told poll workers that I would not leave until I voted and they said, 'You can stay here all day, it's not my problem'."

Notice a problem?

Patch is partnering with ProPublica's Electionland project to report on problems voters encounter at the polls on Nov. 6 and we want to know if you see any shenanigans. Here's how you can report what you see to Electionland:

• SMS: Send the word VOTE, VOTA (for Spanish) or 投票 (for Chinese) to 81380 (standard text message rates apply).
• WhatsApp: Send the word VOTE, VOTA (for Spanish) or 投票 (for Chinese) to 1-850-909-8683.
• Facebook Messenger: Go to m.me/electionland.
• Submit a tip through this form.

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