The write-in option was left off some copies of the February Peoria mayoral primary ballot.
Peoria County Election Commission Executive Director Tom Bride said the write-in option wasn t available for 185 early voters and 339 voters by mail due to an error.
A new database was coded Tuesday to correct the error. On election night, Bride said the original and new vote databases will be merged to reflect the official totals.
Mail-in ballots hadn t been processed yet. All affected mail-in voters will receive a corrected ballot and a letter explaining the issue. But for the 185 early votes already processed, ballots without the write-in option will be counted.
But old-fashioned technology might have helped rectify that situation, and perhaps smooth apparent hard feelings.
Of the five candidates on the ballot for mayor in the Feb. 23 primary election, Montelongo was the only no-show Saturday night during the online forum the NAACP Peoria Branch sponsored.
Initially, Montelongo indicated he wasn t invited. That was what the 4th District City Councilman posted among comments on the Facebook Live page where the forum was streamed.
Upon further review Sunday, Montelongo said he received the NAACP s emailed invitation to participate. But the invite sent to his council email address landed in a virtual folder other than his inbox, evidently.
Tim Shelley / Peoria Public Radio
Early voting for next month’s consolidated primary elections began Thursday, and Peoria County Election Commission Executive Director Tom Bride believes turnout may be higher than usual this year.
With five candidates on the ballot to replace Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis and four City Council district races with more than two candidates, Bride thinks the crowded fields may generate greater voter interest.
“It’s been a while since we ve had a really heavily contested mayoral race and this many heavily contested city council races. We typically haven t had a big turnout in these primaries, but I think we ll be higher because of that,” said Bride, noting the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could counteract any increased interest and potentially suppress voting.
Early voting begins today across Illinois
PEORIA (WEEK) Early voting started on January 14th for consolidated primary elections on February 23rd.
The city of Peoria primary will have the mayor, treasurer and city council races. Peoria Township has a race for supervisor on the ballot. There are five candidates running for mayor, so this election narrow it down to two people for the April 6th election.
Peoria County Election Commissioner, Thomas Bride, said sometimes these local elections come down to one vote. Local races really have a bigger effect on a day to day basis than than a presidential probably or even your congressional races, I always tell people if you look at your tax bill everything on there you re voting for in will be affected by this primary in April, said Bride.
Peoria County Election Commission / YouTube
Originally published on December 11, 2020 8:39 pm
Peoria voters likely will have the opportunity to write in a candidate when voting in February’s mayoral primary but not just any name they choose.
“People think they can write in whoever they want. They can, but the votes will only be counted for people who are certified write-ins,” said Tom Bride, executive director of the Peoria County Election Commission (PCEC). “So once you file a declaration of write-in, then you re a certified write-in of votes cast for you will actually count.”
Chuck Brown plans to register a write-in campaign after his name was removed from the ballot when the PCEC board upheld a challenge to his nominating petition. Bride said a check of records dating back to 2005 showed no registered write-in mayoral candidates.