Judge gives election board good marks

I am responding to the Nov. 11 letter by John Elkmann of Winfield, who gave the Du Page County Election Commission a low grade for its handling of the polling places in this past election. I disagree with his opinion that the election commission deserves less than a low "C" for its performance.

Having been an election judge during this past election I was impressed not only with the entire process, but the help available to voters when they came to cast their votes. I give the election commission a "B+". There were some glitches, but the cooperation and help available to resolve not only voter issues, but problems and questions by the election judges directed to the election commission was very impressive.

There was some confusion with voters arriving at the polling place only to find their polling place had been changed. The Du Page Election Commission had combined precincts in an effort to save on expenses. Voters were either sent a letter or postcard notice telling them of their new polling place. The notice did not include information on a voters state or county district numbers. It was unfortunate that we still had voters showing up at their old polling place, but we were able to direct them immediately to their new location. The overwhelming majority of voters understood, once we informed them why their polling place had been changed. Each voter requiring assistance was given directions and phone number of his new polling place.

Voters at my polling place were asked if they wanted to vote electronically or paper ballot. We striven to keep the voters moving along in a timely manner, because we had over 900 voters at my polling place. My polling place had one electronic voting machine and twelve voting booths. Over 99 percent of the voters opted for the paper ballot.

Dennis Anderson

Wheaton