Prospect Hts. House candidate not registered to vote

Richard Hamen, the unsuccessful Republican candidate in Illinois House District 57, is not registered to vote, and the provisional ballot he cast Tuesday will probably not be counted, according to the Cook County Clerk's office.

Hamen said this is a mistake of the bureaucracy, and insists he notified authorities when he moved from one Prospect Heights complex to a nearby one two years ago.

The clerk's office has his former address, 860 E. Old Willow, listed as Hamen's address, said Courtney Greve, spokeswoman for Cook County Clerk David Orr.

A voter card sent to Hamen this summer in the annual canvass came back, she said. So did a second try.

When his name and old address are entered on the clerk's website Hamen‘s voter status comes up as “inactive.” When his new address is entered, it says there is no voter by that name and address.

That's why Hamen was forced to cast a provisional ballot at the polls Tuesday. On the affidavit he signed he listed the new address, said Greve.

Hamen insists he was told when he updated his driver's license with the new address that the voter registration would be taken care of, too.

However, Illinois statute requires voters to register when they move, said Greve.

Hamen isn't happy.

“How accurate do you think their data actually is when dogs and cats and dead people are voting in Cook County?” he said. “I am a registered voter.”

Democrat Elaine Nekritz won re-election in the 57th House, which represents Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights, Glenview, Niles and Northbrook.