Kane County still short on bilingual election judges

With a high voter turnout expected and Justice Department eyes watching, Kane County is only halfway to recruiting the number of bilingual election judges it wants.

The county wants at least 100 bilingual election judges heading into the Nov. 4 election. Joel Gonzales, an alternative language coordinator for the county, said 75 Spanish-speaking judges is the bare minimum the county will need. That number is somewhat fluid as voter registration for the presidential election continues until Oct. 7. Even after that date, voters may register at the Kane County Clerk's office up until Oct. 21. Every time a precinct reaches at least 100 Spanish-speaking voters, the county must have at least one bilingual election judge to help them at the polls.

That's part of the agreement the county reached with the Justice Department a year ago this month. The Department sued the county for violating the federal voting rights act after largely-Hispanic areas of Dundee Township had problems accommodating Spanish-speaking voters during the November 2006 election. Federal observers will monitor Kane County elections through 2010 to ensure that doesn't happen again.

Gonzales said the county is about 20 bilingual judges short of its minimum goal now and 45 judges short of having enough bilingual judges that it won't have to sweat if some judges don't show up for some reason.

"We still are in a dire need because we'd like to have that reserve," Gonzales said. "I'm pretty confident that we're going to get the number that we need, but we're trying to be proactive on this."

Being proactive means consolidating some precincts into one polling place to allow for "floating" election judges. For example, Elgin Community College will host voters from four different precincts. The county is also placing newspaper ads, sending out fliers to churches and community groups and recruiting Spanish-speaking high school students with the lure of cold, hard cash.

Election judges earn $145. The county asks all judges to receive three hours of free training on all the new voting machines and processes to best help voters.

Aurora, Carpentersville and Elgin are the communities where the most bilingual judges are needed. Ten of the 15 precincts in Aurora require at least one bilingual judge.

Gonzales said he'd like bilingual judges to come forward as soon as possible, but he won't be picky.

"We'll take them right up until the day of the election, trained or untrained," Gonzales said.