Election Day '24: Hearing scheduled to extend polling hours in Champaign County

Nov. 5—URBANA — A hearing to extend voting hours in Champaign County has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today.

Judge Ben Dyer will hear a motion presented by Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz to extend the hours after polling place issues early this morning.

The general rule is that polls open at 6 a.m. and stay open for all voters in line by 7 p.m.

System failures that led to inoperable voting machines at polling places throughout Champaign County were resolved shortly after 8 a.m., Clerk Aaron Ammons said.

To make up for the time lost from the morning system malfunctions, Ammons said his office is "working on extending election hours until 9 p.m."

Voters in line at several locations early today said they were told by election officials that technical difficulties had delayed the process. In some cases, those in line left because it was uncertain how long it would take to remedy the situation.

Ammons blamed the issue on the county's "vendor."

Colleen and Mark Ruebke of rural Urbana went to vote at the Somer Township Building shortly after 6 a.m. "and there seemed to be some kind of issue. They said at the moment the polling place is closed."

Colleen Ruebke said election officials took their contact information and indicated they'de reach out when the problems were resolved.

"It was very frustrating," she said. "We're retired so we don't have to go to work. I feel bad for the people who were in line who said they couldn't wait any longer and had to get to work."

St. Joseph's Sterling Frye went to three polling places this morning — with no luck. He had to go to work in Champaign and said he hopes to be able to vote later today.

"Truly frustrating," he said. "I usually vote early but this year I was going to hold out and actually vote on Election Day. I go do that and it's robbed of me."

Heading into today, close to 52,000 voters had already cast their ballots in the general election, Chief Deputy Clerk Angie Patton told The News-Gazette. That's more than half of the total number of voters the last time president was on the ballot (96,185 in 2020).

Tuesday's breakdown was reminiscent of malfunctions in 2022, when connectivity issues and server performance slowed down voting at some polling places. At the time, Ammons attributed the problems to the county's vendor being the target of cyber attacks.

"I understand this is incredibly frustrating, but it's important for everyone to maintain their commitment to exercising their right to vote," incumbent state Sen. Paul Faraci, D-Champaign, told The News-Gazette Tuesday morning. "... I encourage everyone to stick with it because each vote matters."

His Republican opponent had a different take.

"I can't believe that we have this issue," Jeff Brownfield said. "There was a similar issue a couple of years ago. This should not be acceptable to our community."

A separate issue — power outages from overnight storms — left voters who turned out at west Champaign's Hays Center without the ability to cast ballots early on Election Day.

Power went out about 8:15, affecting at least 400 customers, according to Ameren outage map. Service is not expected to be resumed until 10:15 a.m.

Area counties

Other area county clerk offices report no similar problems to those Champaign County is experiencing.

In Ford County, County Clerk Amy Frederick said, "We are up and running, and everything is good."

She said there were 880 early votes cast, which is "just a smidge under" the last presidential election.

"2020 was just ridiculous, and this one's been ridiculous," Frederick said.

In Douglas County, County Clerk Judi Pollock said there have been no voting problems today.

"We are golden," Pollock said. "We're not having Champaign issues."

A total of 1,600 early votes had been cast in Douglas County, which she said is "going to be "right on track to where we were in '20, which is very busy."

In Piatt County, a county clerk's office spokeswoman said there have been no voting problems.

The spokeswoman said she didn't have time to discuss early-voting numbers.

In DeWitt County, Deputy Clerk Sherry Wilson said that office is having no problems. As for the number of early voters this year, she said she didn't have exact numbers.

"It's a lot. Over 1,000," Wilson said. "It's more than 2020."