From the Quad City Times:

State: Poll problems reported, minimal

By ASHLEY M. HEHER | Thursday, November 09, 2006
CHICAGO - Final ballots were still being counted in Cook County on Wednesday, but that didn't stop state and local officials from praising Tuesday's general election.
"I think we made dramatic improvement from the primary to the general election," said Daniel White, executive director of the State Board of Elections. "We think it was a very good midterm election for Illinois."

In Chicago, workers had counted ballots from nearly 1,950 precincts by 11 p.m. Tuesday _ more than twice the precincts counted by the same time during the March primary. It took nearly a week to tabulate all primary results.

This is the first year that electronic voting machines and electronically scanned ballots replaced punch-card ballots.

"We think it went well and we think it's going to get better every election cycle as people get used to the dual system," said Tom Leach, a spokesman for the Chicago election board.

Still, across Illinois there were sporadic reports of electioneering, technical problems and human error at some of the state's 11,700 precincts.

In northeast Illinois, as many as 40 precincts in Kane County had problems, prompting officials to keep polls open an extra 90 minutes on Tuesday.

And in Chicago's 14th ward, an election petition was passed to voters inside a precinct, violating a state law that prohibits electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place.

Marcy Jensen, a spokeswoman for the Cook County State's Attorney, said no one was charged or arrested because of any violations.

That didn't stop Tony Peraica, a Republican running for the Cook County Board's presidency, from accusing Democrat Todd Stroger of stealing the high publicized race. Peraica supporters marched through city streets to the Cook County Clerk's office early Wednesday, after electronic transmission problems delayed final results.

With 92 percent of precincts reporting unofficial results Wednesday, Stroger had 619,185 votes, or 54 percent, and Peraica had 528,663 votes, or 46 percent.

Staff at the Cook County Clerk's office said workers there would continue counting the remaining votes Wednesday evening.

"I think that what we had yesterday in Cook County was another debacle of an election," said Gary Skoien, chairman of the Cook County Republican Party.

Skoien said he'd received reports of Republican votes being recorded as supporting Democratic candidates, but was gathering more information.

"At a minimum, we have to demand to have a system that works fairly for all voters regardless of partisanship," he said. "Last night was another failure."

In Kane County, immigration activists complained Latino voters were kept away from polls that opened late or were improperly marked.

"Our concern is that a community that's already disenfranchised was losing an ability to have their voices heard in the hours that they needed to," said Kristin Kumpf, a suburban organizer for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refuge Rights.

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