Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=102153
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Officials will be standing by to monitor voting on Election Day.
Federal prosecutor plans task force to monitor polling place complaints
by Daniel Lambert
Oct 28, 2008
The U.S. attorney’s Office in Chicago has set up a team of lawyers to monitor polling places and deal with election complaints on Nov. 4.
The office will make available a hotline for both candidates and voters to report any problems. The office will also make assistant U.S. attorneys available to handle complaints as needed.
"This office has a long tradition of monitoring the polls on Election Day," said Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. "No one who is entitled to vote should in any way be inhibited from doing so while, at the same time, no one not entitled to vote should corrupt the election."
The U.S. attorney’s office has provided monitoring assistance in the past. The amount of complaints received by the office varies with each election, said Randall Samborn, spokesman for the office in Chicago.
“We get a very small amount of calls that escalate to the very serious level,” Samborn said.
In general, the complaints received involve polling places not opening on time or voters unsure about the location of their polling place, Samborn said. Those problems are handled by local officials.
The hotline number, which will only be staffed on Election Day, is (312) 469-6157.
