Amid reports of polls not opening on time and voters missing ballot pages, election officials in Chicago have confirmed they plan to ask a judge to extend voting hours in at least five city locations.
Several voters across the Chicago area have been reporting trouble at their voting locations in the city, some suburbs and in northwest Indiana.
Five locations in in Chicago were slated to stay open until 8 p.m. due to difficulties encountered earlier in the day.
- Precinct 20 of Ward 9 - Smith Park, 9912 S. Princeton Ave.
- Precinct 31 of Ward 9 - New Pasadena MB Church, 11300 S. Indiana Ave.
- Precinct 35 of Ward 2 - St. Michael Church, 1711 N. Cleveland Ave.
- Precinct 22 of Ward 20 - Kenneth Campbell Apts., 6360 S. Minerva Ave.
Two locations in DuPage County will stay open until 7:30 p.m. The locations are the DuPage County Fairgrounds and the St. Matthew United Church of Christ.
Chicago officials said they were working to fix issues at precincts in the 42nd Ward and the 5th Ward.
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The Chicago Board of Elections confirmed it was going to court to ask a judge to extend voting hours in five precincts in the city. Polling places being considered in Circuit Court to remain opened until 8 p.m. include:
Precinct 20, Ward 09
Precinct 31, Ward 09
Precinct 46, Ward 02
Precinct 22, Ward 20
Precinct 12, Ward 19 may also be open after 8 p.m.
Spokesman James Allen also said he has received reports of numerous voters not receiving the second page of their ballots.
Numerous voters in Chicago reported to ProPublica that they were missing pages on their ballots. Among the locations where reports surfaced were:
- 2611 W 48th St.
- 5249 S. Wabash Ave.
- 1120 W. 122nd St.
- 2417 W. 43rd St.
- 1845 W. Rice St.
- 1429 W. Wellington
- 48th and Martin Luther King
Both in and out of Chicago, voters complained of polling places not opening on time.
Cook County Clerk David Orr said officials were working to fix issues in New Trier, Justice and Northlake.
DuPage County confirmed there were issues with touch screen machines at a HealthTrack location in Geln Ellyn and printer issues at a polling facility in Downers Grove. The county said those issues were resolved as of 2 p.m. Tuesday and votes were being processed.
Many voters used social media to report potential problems:
Polls opened at 6 a.m. CT across Illinois and will stay open through 7 p.m.
While millions of people will cast their ballots without any problems, some may be challenged on their voting eligibility, experience voter intimidation, or have trouble at their polling place.
NBC 5 Chicago has partnered with ProPublica and other news organizations covering problems that prevent eligible voters from casting ballots.
Here is how you can participate:
- 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.
- Sign up using the form that’s embedded at the end of this post.
In 2016, the Electionland coalition went through thousands of tips from a legal call center hotline, as well as thousands of text messages and social media posts. Local journalists around the country reported 400 stories and helped bring attention to voting problems that were fixed before polls closed.
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If you run into any issues at all, or even have questions about the process, you are also encouraged to call the Election Protection hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (English only), 888-VE-Y-VOTA (English/Spanish) and 888-API-VOTE (English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and Tagalog).
The hotline is run by a nonpartisan coalition of more than 100 organizations, led by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
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