Many partial, spoiled ballots

November 14, 2000

BY SCOTT FORNEK AND ABDON M. PALLASCH STAFF REPORTERS

Cook County--home of the notorious "butterfly" ballot--was more likely than any other Chicago area county to have voters who skipped the presidential contest on their ballots last week or mistakenly chose more than one candidate.

City and suburban officials said 122,859 of the 1,987,954 people who cast ballots in the county either did not punch a choice in the top contest or spoiled their ballot for that race by punching more than one hole.

In Chicago, the 72,934 ballots represented 7.1 percent of all ballots cast. In suburban Cook, the 49,925 ballots were 5.2 percent of the total.

Comparable figures in the other five counties ranged from 0.4 percent for McHenry to 2.5 percent for Will, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of last week's vote.

Election officials in Cook County conceded the numbers were higher than normal. But they could not provide an explanation for the discrepancy or a breakdown, so it was impossible to tell if the absence of votes was largely voluntary or a problem voters had with the ballots.

Cook County Clerk David Orr said the ballots could reflect voters who chose write-in candidates for president, mistakenly chose two candidates for president, just came out to vote for a judge or county candidate or did not fully punch the appropriate slot on the ballot.

"No one is really sure, because we have secret ballots," Orr said.

Orr also said some people with government jobs make a public show of voting to satisfy their precinct captains, but then don't cast a complete ballot.

Cook County, unlike surrounding suburban counties, used a ballot that featured candidates on both sides of the page. A similar one in Palm Beach County, Fla., created an uproar among voters who think they either voted for the wrong candidate or punched more than one choice.

But unlike the so-called Florida "butterfly" ballot, the Cook County version did not split the presidential candidates between facing pages.

Both Orr and Tom Leach, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, said they think most of the 122,859 ballots were not spoiled ballots, but rather people choosing not to make a presidential pick.

"Maybe they didn't like the candidates," Leach said.

Orr said the problem of spoiled ballots could be solved if voters were allowed to feed their ballots directly into the counting machine. The machine could be programmed to spit out any double-punched or otherwise spoiled ballots.

The new equipment that debuted on Election Day allows that possibility, but it would require approval from the Legislature. Current law requires voters to hand their ballots to election judges, who drop them into a box and run them through counting machines after the polls close.

"Given what happened in Florida, it would certainly be nice to know that we had this added protection," Orr said.

How Democrats Steal Elections

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), November 15, 2000

Answers

OK, I went to the link, read the article.....but I don't see how this equates to "How Democrats Steal Elections".

Talk about reaching.

-- Patricia (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), November 15, 2000.

I goofed...Heres the link to: How Democrats Steal Elections

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not HereNot@ever.com), November 15, 2000.

Forget about it, Patricia. It's a World Nut Daily article.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), November 15, 2000.