Illinois candidates vie for voters' attention

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By The Associated Press | Tuesday, November 7, 2006 3:03 PM CST | () comments

TODAY: (Updated 3:01 p.m.) OAK PARK, Ill. — Energized by the possibility of a shift in Washington's power structure, Illinois voters spent today visiting the polls, even as logistical problems forced election officials to extend voting hours in some precincts.

Turnout around the state was steady, and officials expected at least 50 percent of registered voters to vote before balloting ended at 7 p.m., Dan White, director of the State Board of Elections said this afternoon.

``The election is going very well,'' White said. ``We have had problems and some isolated incidents with machines and some isolated reports of electioneering, and these are the normal type of complaints we get every election.''

Still, Illinois voters said they noticed problems at the polls, where electronic voting machines replaced punch-card ballots.

``People seem to be very confused about how to use the new system,'' said Bryan Blank, a 33-year-old librarian from Oak Park in suburban Chicago. ``There was some early morning disarray.''

Blank, who said he decided to use a paper ballot instead of the computerized option, said it took him 20 minutes to vote — nearly all of which involved waiting in line.

At two Cook County precincts, voting hours were extended to 8 p.m., because polls in Cicero and Bloom Township opened late, said Kelley Quinn, a spokeswoman for the Cook County Clerk's office.

``We wanted to extend the voting hours to afford any voter the opportunity and the chance to vote,'' Quinn said.

Gail Siegel, a spokeswoman for the Cook County clerk's office, said the most frequent complaint was a lack of special pens to fill in paper ballots.

``People just want more pens. People walk off with them, or one or two of them are dried out,'' she said. ``While we're not going to have a perfect Election Day, we do see it as a vast improvement over March.''

During the spring's primary election, mechanical and human failures were blamed for the week it took election officials in Chicago and Cook County to tally primary ballots.

Despite the frustration, voters sensed the importance of this year's results.

``Basically, this time I voted because I usually vote and don't want to be one of those people who stay home then become part of the headlines the next day that say 'Voter turnout low,’” said Pat Parmenter, 70, of Bloomington.

Many voters said they wrestled with their choice for governor. Polls showed Gov. Rod Blagojevich and GOP challenger Judy Baar Topinka with high unfavorable ratings.

A self-proclaimed independent, 62-year-old accountant Lana Randolph said she cast a ballot in favor of Blagojevich, but she admitted, ``I wasn't too thrilled to vote for him,'' saying she had questions about his administration's ethics.

``From what I had, I felt more confident with him,'' Randolph said after voting at the First Baptist Church in Collinsville.

Tony Rigazzi, a 54-year-old Collinsville engineer, said he would have voted for Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney but was dissuaded by Whitney's 11th-hour revelation that he once was a Socialist Labor Party official. Whitney resigned from the party in 1993 and his campaign said he no longer advocates socialist policies.

Rigazzi instead sided with Topinka, saying he was ``willing to give her a chance'' to rein in the state budget he thought had become bloated under Blagojevich.

``The governor's had a shot, and he's been disappointing,'' Rigazzi said.

Associated Press Writers Jan Dennis in Bloomington and Jim Suhr in Collinsville contributed to this story.