Early voters finding new machines aren't without faults

November 2, 2006
BY STEVE PATTERSON Staff Reporter
Corrine Stoker pushed the button for one candidate, but her voting machine showed she voted for the opponent.

She said it happened two more times as she voted early Monday at the Skokie courthouse, shaking her confidence in a voting system that has been under fire since a problem-plagued March primary. "I don't know what caused it to misvote, but I know I didn't press the button," said Stoker, of Wilmette. "I caught it, but I would urge people to be very careful."

'There are going to be glitches'

That's good advice for any voter, election officials said Wednesday, as they unveiled new voting machines to be used in Tuesday's election.

Problems like Stoker's are "extremely rare," officials said, but can happen with electronic machines.

The machines include three layers of protection for voters, who can check to ensure they cast the right vote.

While this election won't be without problems, officials said it should be smoother than in March, when it took days to get final results.

"There are going to be glitches," Cook County Clerk David Orr said, though "we're doing all we think is humanly possible" to limit those.