Voters in Lake County will find a fully automated process for early voting, or on primary election day March 19, when they go to the polls as Charlie Kirk of Beach Park learned when he became the initial local voter of the 2024 election cycle and the first to use the new equipment.
After Kirk gave the election judge his name and number of his street address, she quickly flipped her electronic tablet over so he could verify his information and sign his name. His ballot was quickly printed on a printer adjacent to the judge’s electronic device.
“It was far easier than it was before,” Kirk said of the new system. “It was enjoyable. In the past, it took longer.”
Kirk was one of seven people who cast ballots in the first hour on the first day of early voting Thursday at the Lake County Courthouse & Administration Building in downtown Waukegan so he could avoid long lines on election day. By noon, 13 had voted.
As Kirk was voting, the U.S. Supreme Court was hearing oral arguments so the nine justices can decide whether former President Donald Trump’s name can stay on the ballot in Colorado. It did not matter to Kirk, who took a Republican ballot into the voting booth.
“I want to vote for somebody who has a chance to be president,” he said. “All the others have dropped out, or are about to drop out,” he added, referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ryan L. Binkley.
After Trump’s name was removed from the Colorado primary ballot in December over his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 certification of the electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election, the former president appealed to the Supreme Court. His name remains on the Illinois primary ballot.
Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega said the ballot is already final. Should the court disqualify Trump, Vega said the votes cast for him will not be counted.
For Warren Thomas of Waukegan, the presidential choice was easier. He took a Democratic ballot and voted for President Joseph Biden. He voted Thursday to avoid longer lines on March 19.
“It’s much faster, and you don’t have to wait in lines,” Thomas said of the new equipment. “He’s been around politics a long time, and he’s not bothered by the jokes about him,” he added, referring to his presidential choice.
Vega said the new equipment makes voting more efficient and secure. With 431 precincts in Lake County, and both a Republican and Democrat running for committeeperson in many of them, there are more than 1,200 potential ballots.
With a printer at each election judge’s side, any of those stylized ballots can be printed at all locations throughout the county. Vega said the equipment cost $1.5 million allocated from federal COVID relief funds.
“This makes it easier for the voters and the judges,” Vega said. “We get the ballot needed for each voter. It’s more secure and more effective.”
Mary Pederson of Long Grove is in her eighth year of being an election judge, but she started voting in the 1960s. She remembers earlier procedures, and is thrilled with the new equipment.
“You don’t have to look up voters in books or on cards,” Pederson said. “This is a lot better. It prevents fraud.”
Other than the presidential primary, with voters choosing the Republican and Democratic nominee for the Oval Office, there are few contested races on the primary ballot. Many voters have no choices other than president or delegates to the nominating conventions this summer.
Democratic voters in the Lake County Board 8th District will choose between incumbent Diane Hewitt and Charles A. Rukstales for their nominee. Both the Republican and Democratic primaries are contested in the 11th Congressional District.
Voters in Deer Park, Wadsworth, the Round Lake area and Grayslake Community Consolidated School District 46 in Grayslake will decide whether to approve or reject referendums.
Early voting takes place at the courthouse between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays through March 1, and with extended hours March 4-18. Early voting expands to 15 other locations on March 4. Locations and times are listed on the clerk’s website. Vote-by-mail ballot applications are also available there.
