Early voting for the March 19 primary election in Chicago was temporarily shut down Friday after the Illinois Appellate Court ordered the removal of a judicial candidate from the ballot.
The appellate court paused early voting so that the Chicago Board of Elections can ensure the removal of Ashonta C. Rice, who was running for Cook County circuit judge, from the ballot.
Votes already cast for Rice aren’t currently being tallied while the Chicago Board of Elections awaits a decision from the courts, a spokesperson for the Chicago Board of Elections told the Sun-Times Sunday. The matter is currently being appealed to the state Supreme Court.
The first batch of Democratic mail-in ballots will still begin shipping out to Chicago voters Monday, though there was no timeline for the return of in-person early voting, the spokesperson said.
Early voting began in the Loop on Thursday morning, at a downtown supersite at 191 N. Clark St. and at the Chicago Board of Elections sixth-floor office at 69 W. Washington St.
Earlier this year, the Cook County Officers Electoral Board had ordered Rice’s removal from the Democratic primary ballot. Rice won a stay of enforcement of that order, but that stay was lifted Friday.
The temporary shutdown will allow officials at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners to reprogram early voting touchscreen machines to reflect Rice’s deletion from the ballot. Vote-by-mail ballots weren’t affected because they had not been sent out to Chicago voters.
A similar situation occurred last year, when early voting was delayed so that Shawn A. Walker, a candidate for 28th Ward alderman, could be added back to the ballot.
Each of the city’s 50 wards will open its own early voting locations March 4. More locations to vote early across the Chicago area will open as Election Day approaches.
Contributing: Violet Miller
