By Ted Kleine
Ballard returned to the booth and punched a new ballot. This one slid smoothly through the counter.
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If Ballard had double punched in last November’s general election, his vote wouldn’t have been counted. It happened to a lot of people in his west side neighborhood. In the 37th Ward, one out of every eight votes for president was thrown out due to voter error, the second-highest discard rate in the city. Al Gore got 16,429 votes here, which means he could have lost more than 2,000 votes–enough, as we now know, to make the difference in a close state. (George W. Bush received 392 votes in the ward.) Citywide, the discard rate was 7 percent, believed to be a record. Hardest hit were low-income and Spanish-speaking wards, which are overwhelmingly Democratic–and in the five wards with the biggest “fall-off” rates Gore won 95 percent of the vote.
Many in this heavily black ward believe votes were intentionally set aside in the Florida presidential election, so Motley was careful to demonstrate that it wouldn’t happen here. Every time a ballot slid through the counter, he pointed at an LCD display tallying the vote total.
The real test will come in March 2002, when voters are faced with a long primary ballot. Between now and then, the county clerk’s office and the Chicago Board of Elections will concentrate on reeducating voters, with public service announcements, mailings, and a “road show” that brings voting equipment to high schools, senior citizen centers, ward offices, and supermarkets.
