Results tagged “cookcountyclerk”

We told you yesterday about the petition challenges filed for the 2010 February primaries. The deadline for the ballots to be printed is December 14 so the Cook County Clerk’s office has a lot of work to do. As for how the process actually works, Chicago Current's Alex Parker gives us a quick overview of how it all goes down.

It seems there's a bit of a trouble with the scheduled dates of the special elections called to fill Rahm Emanuel's vacated seat in U.S. Congress. Cook County Clerk David Orr's office is required to allow 45 days between primary and election dates to allow absentee voters - including those in the military - to return their ballots. There are, however, only 35 days between the scheduled March 3 primary and April 7 election. Orr will go before a federal judge tomorrow and ask that his office be allowed to use ballots via fax and email in addition to regular mail so that the current dates, set by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, can stand.

Among all of the jockeying for Cook County State's Attorney and the sparks and drama of the presidential primaries, one of the more significant local races this primary season hasn't gotten nearly the attention that it deserves.

Today, a coin toss by the Cook County Clerk will decide the winner of a Bedford Park Village Trustee race. The two candidates, John "Chuck" Holloway and Ronald Robison, both received 101 votes in the consolidated vote on April 17th.

Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court and would-be Mayor of Chicago Dorothy Brown has been getting all bent out of shape over the word choices of a certain South Side preacher. After Rev. James Meeks told the press that he had no intention of endorsing for mayor "anybody who's going to lose," Dorothy Brown has practically barnstormed the local press, accusing the minister of "hurtful" and "sexist" remarks. Meeks retorted that he wasn't necessarily talking about her.

In a shocking bit of news, no one is accepting responsibility for the election night delays that came out of Cook County Clerk David Orr's office. By 7:55 p.m. only 37 precincts had been processed. The Chicago Board of Elections, on the other hand, uses the same system and completed processing much earlier. Orr stated the $50 million to $60 million Sequoia Voting System would be able to handle all absentee and early votes directly...

Hey, have you registered to vote lately? We're just checking because the voter registration deadline for Cook County is upon us ... as in, today.

While he stopped short of predicting record voter turnout in Chicago, Chicago Board of Election Commissioners chairman Langdon Neal said he expects turnout to beat the 70% of voters that voted in 2000. Way to go Chi-town that's well above the national turnout of 51.3% in 2000 for the federal elections. In Chicago in 1944, voter turnout was 91%. Holy shit! Can you imagine what a different nation the U.S. would be if 91% of people of voting age turned out for the federal elections?

Did you know there are two other people besides Barack Obama and Alan Keyes registered as candidates with the State Board of Elections for Illinois' U.S. Senate seat? Well there are and neither of them will win, but both of their names are eerily similar to those of two political celebrities. And that's hard-hitting political news--right?