Early voting delayed at county clerk's offices

County clerks throughout Illinois said Tuesday early voting for the primary election will be delayed at their offices as the Illinois State Board of Elections continues to review objections against several presidential candidates.

Only after the objections have been resolved can the final list of certified candidates be sent to county clerks, who are then tasked with printing the ballots.

Early voting was expected to start Feb. 4 at county clerk offices and by mail, but Lake County Clerk Carla Wyckoff said she doesn't anticipate being ready to print ballots until Feb. 17.

"We have already begun preparing Lake County's ballots for all other candidates and public questions," Wyckoff said in a news release. "When our office receives final candidate certification, we have printing and testing resources on standby who will work quickly to make ballots available to the voters."

The delay isn't expected to affect Lake County's 14 other early voting sites, still scheduled to open Feb. 29, Wyckoff said.

Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham said state elections board officials apologized for the delay at a recent downstate meeting of the Illinois Association of County Officials.

He says his office is a prime early voting location because it is near the Geneva Metra station. A lot of commuters vote early so they aren't in jeopardy of missing the chance to cast a ballot on Election Day, he said.

"We'd like to start as quickly as we can. We have active early voting in this county," Cunningham said.