Voting information online in Kane County

Misplaced that handy wallet-sized card that lists your polling place address -- the one that arrived in the mail months ago?

Don't worry about it. The information's now online at kanecountyelections.org.

Kane County's election Web site recently was revamped so voters can enter their name and address to check their registration status and polling place and check out voting districts. Click on your polling place and a Google map pops up.

Early voting sites also are mapped. Early voting for the Feb. 5 primary takes place Jan. 14 to 31 at municipal offices, businesses and other locations throughout the county.

Sample ballots will be posted online in January.

County Clerk Jack Cunningham hopes providing the information on the Internet will cut down on the number of phone calls to his office on Election Day. During the 2004 general election, the office logged more than 9,000 phone calls on Election Day, most from voters asking for their registration status and polling place location.

"People get their voter IDs and set them aside or toss them out," Deputy Clerk Jay Bennett told the Kane County Board's public service committee this week.

The information is available to all Kane County voters outside of the city of Aurora, which has its own election commission.

In other election news, Cunningham announced his office is still recruiting bilingual interpreters to staff polling places in communities with a sizable Hispanic population. Sixty-one judges have committed to working Feb. 5, but another 10 are needed, said Joel Gonzales, the election office's alternate language coordinator.

"We'll get the job done," Cunningham said. "I guarantee that."

They are needed to fulfill an agreement earlier this year between the county and the U.S. Department of Justice, which sued the county for violating the federal Voting Rights Act by not adequately accommodating Spanish-speaking voters during previous elections.