Illinois Election: Officials take multiple steps to ensure election integrity, prevent misinformation
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Despite two chief issues at Chicago polling places – one involving Sharpies that caused some headaches for voters – the other involving voters not receiving the second page of the ballot – election officials statewide say they are doing everything they can to protect your vote.
Before voting began, officials conducted a test to make sure there were no issues and every ballot was counted.
"Every election authority has to test their equipment," said Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich.
The test is just one of the many ways to ensure the integrity of elections.
"You know, there are a lot of skeptics out there," Dietrich said.
This is true especially since the 2020 presidential race — and repeated claims by election deniers that it was stolen.
"And as we've said repeatedly that all the claims of systemic fraud that came up after that election came out of nowhere," Dietrich said. "They were not founded in any kind of evidence."
But there is evidence from those trying to influence your vote.
"Social media is the biggest source of misinformation," Dietrich said.
For one example, a social media post tells voters incorrectly that they may only use a blue ballpoint pen. In fact, blue ink is not to be used.
"That's going to cause a problem," Dietrich said.
The state tweeted out a correction - reminding that black ink is best.
Tucker: "How do you stay on top of these social media posts? I mean, this has got to be like swatting flies."
Dietrich: "One of the things that helps us is that we do have a lot of people who follow our social media, and they will send us screenshots and alert us to things."
And on this Election Day, they are extra vigilant — adding state and federal law enforcement to monitor the internet.
"We also have direct contact with the social media companies so we can get posts taken down if we see them," Dietrich said.
Also keeping an eye on the vote at the ballot box are poll watchers.
"I can tell you that right now, I've got 450-some folks who signed up in the last two months," said Jay Young, executive director of a civic group called Illinois Common Cause. "People might have questions about, 'Do I need an ID to vote? - that sort of thing."
And just in case voter intimidation like we've seen outside polling places in other cities happens here, poll watchers are on top of it.
"The police know that we're out there," Young said. "If we see something, we're going to be immediately alerting them to what the problem is."
Poll watchers also represent candidates or a political party. In past elections in other cities, some of their concerns led to ballot recounts.
But in Illinois, authorities remind voters there's a process in place to protect one person, one vote.
"If somebody already voted - say they early-voted, and they came in on election day and tried to vote again - an election judge would see that in the e-pollbook," said Chicago Board of Elections spokesman Max Bever.
What about ballots put into dropboxes?
"There's a barcode on every ballot that makes that ballot unique," Bever said. "So again, concerns about, 'Oh, what if a secure dropbox gets stuffed with somebody who copied their ballot a few times?' That can't happen, because every ballot does eventually get scanned and has that unique barcode."
The boxes are also watched by security and locked – and taken every night to a storage area until they're counted when polls close.
"One ballot, one vote, one barcode - so there can't be any extra ballots in any way whatsoever put into machines or counted within the city of Chicago," Bever said.
Meanwhile, while Sharpies caused some headaches at Chicago polling places, election officials assure that if you used a Sharpie on a ballot, your vote was counted.
