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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Friday, October 3, 2008 9:35 PM CDT
Judge calls for state to notify voters of misleading Nov. ballot

CHICAGO (AP) — Every Illinois voter who goes to the polls next month must be notified of misleading language on the ballot, a judge ruled Friday.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Nathaniel Howse Jr. ordered state election officials to print notices directing voters to disregard the false information, which deals with a referendum on whether Illinois should hold a constitutional convention.

Howse acknowledged the notices might not be the best solution, but it was the only one available in time for the Nov. 4 election and early voting, which starts next week, he said.

Earlier Friday Howse said the state does not have time to reprint the ballots and it was also impossible to black out portions of the ballot without damaging them.

“I wish there was something perfect we could do. Given the timing at hand, I don’t think that’s a viable option,” Howse said.

The notices will be mailed with military and absentee ballots and handed out at polling places beginning Oct. 8.

Lawyers with the Chicago Bar Association, which filed the lawsuit along with Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, said the judge’s solution isn’t good enough. They proposed striking the misleading information or printing new ballots.

Quinn disagreed with the judge’s solution but said both sides should still try to construct a workable notice for voters.

“A notice is hardly sufficient, given the magnitude of the wrong here,” Quinn said Friday night.

New ballots were not possible in time for the election, elections officials said.

“The court has wisely ruled not to impose a nightmare scenario,” said Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections. “We’re very pleased with the outcome.”

Officials still saw obstacles. Cook County Clerk David Orr said there was no way to notify overseas military members who had already been mailed ballots. Howse on Wednesday ordered Chicago and Cook County officials to stop mailing election ballots to members of the military and hold off on sending absentee ballots to everyone else.

Secretary of State Jesse White said his office was willing spend more than $300,000 on newspaper ads to publicize the change.

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Becky wrote on Oct 6, 2008 1:20 PM:

" Ok, I know I'm stating the obvious but....what the heck was wrong with the original and what is the change that we need to be notified of? We couldn't find room in this article to print another paragraph and actually inform the voters what the actual PROBLEM is? "