Oct 23, 2008 6:24 pm US/Central
Cook County Safeguards Against Voter Fraud
Record Number Of Early Voters Raises Concerns
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Early voting began Monday, Oct. 13, in Cook County and most of the rest of Illinois. (File)
CBS
The number of early voters in suburban Cook County is expected to top 100,000 Thursday. People are trying to beat the Election Day rush.
With record numbers of people casting ballots ahead of time, what's to prevent them from going to the polls and voting a second time?
CBS 2's Susan Carlson reports the Cook County Clerk's Office is taking measures to stop voter fraud.
Every person who comes in to vote early is checked off on a computer system to prevent fraud.
"It wouldn't be possible to go to another site that same day or the following day and try to vote again because that person's application number would come up showing that they had already voted early," said Jan Kralovec, Director of Elections for the Cook County Clerk's Office.
But on Election Day, they don't have computers for all the polling places, which makes things more challenging. The plan is to print up an eligible voter list the night before. Before the polls open, judges will have to go through the application book and stamp each voter who already cast a ballot.
So if an early voter showed up on Election Day, Kralovec said, "The election judge would look to get their application and would see that they already voted."
All the early voting results are stored on computer cartridges and won't be counted until the polls close.
The interest in early voting could indicate a record number of people voting this election. Based on numbers so far, election officials are predicting a turnout rate of 80 percent. That compares to 73 percent four years ago.
Early voting continues until next Thursday at 5 p.m. By then, the clerk's office predicts nearly 200,000 people will have already voted in suburban Cook County alone.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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