Early Voting Ends Saturday; Officials Remind Voters No Do-Overs
(CBS) -- Chicago election officials were urging voters to get it right the first time if they take advantage of early voting in the upcoming city elections, because there are no do-overs.
"Surprisingly, every election we have a few voters who think that they can change their mind on Election Day, after they've early voted," Chicago Board of Election Commissioners Chairman Langdon Neal said.
Neal said it's just a handful of voters who show up at the polls on Election Day each year, after voting early beforehand.
"We have to remind some voters every election. 'I'm sorry, you've already voted,'" he said.
Neal said any attempt to vote a second time will be caught. Voting more than once in Illinois is a felony.
"The good thing is, with the electronic poll books, we can identify that immediately," he said.
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Saturday is the last day for early voting in Chicago. Polls open at 6 a.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Feb. 24.
The board also will have more than 300 investigators checking the city's polling places to make sure of a smooth election.
There also will be plenty of translation help for voters who don't speak English. Chicago election officials provide brochures and other voting documents in Spanish, Polish, Chinese, Hindi, Gujarati Urdu, and Korean.
"We provide more language assistance than any jurisdiction in the United States," Neal said.
Turnout for the last municipal elections in Chicago four years ago was 42 percent, a significant jump from 2003 and 2007, when only 33 percent of eligible voters turned out.
This year, 1.4 million people have registered to vote, a 1 percent hike over 2011.
