Early voting begins with glitches - now resolved - in Cook County
The first day of early voting in suburban Cook County featured technical difficulties that were resolved by early afternoon, the Cook County clerk's office reported.
The difficulties affected the e-poll laptops used at the early voting locations at all five suburban courthouses, including Rolling Meadows and Skokie, plus the Cook County administration building in Chicago, spokeswoman Sally Daly said.
New voters were able to register and vote, but judges were unable to access voter files for registered voters, she said.
"As a result of the problem, voting may take a few minutes longer than usual today," Daly said Wednesday. "We apologize for any inconvenience and remind voters that these sites will now be open seven days a week moving forward as they consider their voting plans."
The "early voting wait time" feature on the clerk's website was taken down Wednesday "because we did not want to misinform voters in light of this issue," Daly said. The feature will be restored Thursday, she said.
The website also shows daily early voting totals. A total of 584 people had cast their votes by 4 p.m. Wednesday, including 140 in Rolling Meadows, the highest count among the six sites.
The Cook County Clerk's office will be expanding early voting Oct. 19 to include more than 50 locations across suburban Cook County. People also can drop off their mail ballots at drop boxes located outside all the early voting sites.