Election authorities around Illinois expect to be ready when early voting begins this Thursday.
Still, reform groups say rule changes are needed after problems arose during the primary. A ballot challenge in the crowded attorney general race delayed the start of early voting in some counties early this year.
But according to the Illinois State Board of Elections, there are no pending challenges for statewide or legislative races ahead of the November election.
Alisa Kaplan is with the good-government group the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. She says the goal of early voting is to give people the opportunity to cast a ballot when it’s convenient for them.
But what happened in the primary: “It disenfranchises people who are confused about the process and don’t end up voting. Overall it just creates a lot of problems for the system and for people’s perception of the system.”
Her group is looking into policy changes to improve early voting process. Some proposals include a statewide protocol for how authorities deal with ballot changes and changes when candidates to gather petitions.
