The League of Women Voters of Lake County is organizing three options to help protect the integrity of the vote. We’ve all heard about rigging the election, stolen votes, and other irregularities. See for yourself how the voting system works in Lake County and help ensure that the election here is managed honestly, efficiently, and securely.
This project is only open to members of the four local Leagues in Lake County (LWV Deerfield/Lincolnshire; LWV Grayslake, Round Lakes, and Waukegan; LWV Highland Park-Highwood; and LWV Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Area).
1. Volunteer to be a pollwatcher. Pollwatchers play an important role as official election process observers. They both help protect a voter’s rights and may notice some voting irregularities which should be reported.
Lake County Clerk’s Office is offering League members pollwatcher training on Wed. Feb. 11, 11:00am at the Lake County Administration Building in Waukegan. It takes about 45 minutes.
Once you are trained, contact your local League to make arrangements for assignment to a site and time. You will receive your pollwatcher credentials which are needed to enter a polling site. There are a number of polling sites in each community.
2. After the pollwatcher training, League members may satisfy their curiosity about the much talked about vote-by-mail process. Is it safe, secure, and reliable? The League has arranged for a private showing of the vote-by-mail processing center. As voters already have started to mail in their ballots, League members will see how the state-of-the-art equipment works. Attendance at the pollwatcher training is not required to watch the vote-by-mail process.
3. If you vote in person, what happens with your ballot once you feed it into the tabulating machine? Illinois requires a public demonstration of the equipment for accuracy and security. The official demonstration for Lake County is Tues. March 10th at 10:00 in Waukegan.
If you have any questions about these important steps in the voting process, or wish to sign up for one or all, please contact Mary Mathews at LWVLakecounty@gmail.com. The Clerk’s office needs to know in advance how many people to expect.
This event is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Lake County.