Early voting resumes in DuPage County on Monday after delays, ballot issues

Early voting resumed on Monday in DuPage County, Illinois, after a glitch that left one candidate off the ballot, and before that, a five-day delay.

The five locations now open for early voting — the Addison Township Office, the Bartlett Community Center, the Downers Grove Village Hall, the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton, and the Naperville Municipal Center — would have been open for early voting on Saturday and Sunday. But they weren't, because the county clerk's office said it needed to take a two-day break because of court orders.

County officials hope the early voting roller coaster does not deter voters from coming out on Monday.

At the center of the issues is a dispute over one specific candidate whose name was left off the ballot under Illinois' 11th Congressional District for U.S. representative.

"It's unfortunate, but I had to go through a petition challenge," said that candidate, Tedora Brown.

Brown is running in the Republican primary for the 11th Congressional District, along with Charlie Kim, Mike Pierce, and Jeffrey Walter. The district is currently represented by Democrat Bill Foster.

Brown was accused of gathering fake signatures to run for office. The DuPage County clerk was given a court order to take Brown's name off the ballot for not having enough signatures. However, Brown said that was never true.

"I fought my way all the way to the appellate court, where I made sure I was on that ballot," she said.

The Illinois Appellate Court on Friday overturned the original decision, forcing DuPage County to pause early voting and put Brown's name on the ballot.

It took a couple of days to correct the ballots that many voters will begin to see starting Monday.

Before Brown's name was included, over 740 people already voted early.

"All of those votes will still be counted," said DuPage County Chief Deputy Clerk Adam Johnson.

Johnson said this is because when it offered ballots without Brown's name, the clerk's office was going by court orders it had at the time. He added that the root of the problem lies with the Illinois law.  

"We would like the timeline for ballot objections to be resolved before the timeline for voting to begin," he said. "Right now, there is an overlap in those time periods, and we are caught in that overlap right now."

While DuPage took two days to correct their ballots, they hope the early voting rollercoaster does not deter voters.

"I hope that voters maintain trust in the process," Johnson said. "We have been communicating directly as these delays and pauses have had to be implemented. However, it is certainly inconvenient for the voters and the election offices."

Brown was on the ballot in other counties for the 11th Congressional District, which also includes  parts of Cook, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, DeKalb and Boone counties.

Early voting in DuPage County first opened on Tuesday of last week, after a delay caused by another snag. The county had planned to start early voting on the Thursday before — the same day as several other Illinois counties — but decided to tread carefully due to two ongoing court cases.

Early voting sites in DuPage County opened again at 11 a.m. on Monday.

The primary is set for March 17.

The DuPage County clerk said it prints on demand, so it does not have to reprint ballots. The office also has not printed mail-in ballots yet.