Pritzker needs to get his s*** together

As Election Day limps out of the gate, Chicago election board rips governor for not postponing whole thing

The Chicago Board of Elections and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office exchanged barbs publicly Tuesday while contending with low voter turnout.

By Mitch Dudek and Tina Sfondeles Mar 17, 2020, 11:59am CDT

Chicago Election Board Spokesperson Jim Allen demonstrates touch screen voting machines at a “Loop supersite” at 191 N. Clark St. Rich Hein/Sun-Times file photo
Polls that failed to open. Election judges that failed to show. Promised bottles of hand sanitizer that failed to arrive. And low voter turnout.

With the coronavirus on the loose, Chicago’s elections on Tuesday are looking like a shaky affair.

Barely 31⁄2 hours after the polls opened in Chicago, city election officials ripped Gov. J.B. Pritzker for refusing last week to reschedule the whole thing. And, lashing back, Pritzker’s office contended that it had offered Chicago reinforcements — including National Guard troops to work as election judges — but the city failed to take the state up on the offer.

City election board spokesman Jim Allen revealed Tuesday that the city in a March 11 phone call had urged Pritzker’s office to cancel in-person voting today in favor of mail-in ballots, but was told by the governor’s legal team to proceed as planned.

”It was a snowball we could all see coming down the hill,” Allen complained to reporters, referring to the city’s struggles in the last week to be ready for elections in the face of the coronavirus crisis. “Where is the mystery in this?


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”Other states are postponing,” Allen added. “They don’t have scenarios where seniors are tweeting and posting comments about being fearful of going into polling places or serving on election day.”

Allen said the city requested that today’s primary elections be postponed mere hours after a global pandemic being announced by the World Health Organization. But, he said, that suggestion was “rejected.”

”There’s nothing magical about March 17 unless you’re Saint Patrick,” he said.

In a tweet shortly after Allen aired his complaints, Anne Caprara, Pritzker’s chief of staff, shot down Allen’s account.

“This is a lie,” Caprara tweeted at 10:21 a.m. “And frankly, given what we are dealing with in this moment, I’m disgusted that Jim Allen would lie like this.

This is a lie. And frankly, given what we are dealing with in this moment, I’m disgusted that Jim Allen would lie like this. We offered them the national guard, young volunteers and assistance with keeping polling places clean. Statement coming in a few minutes from our office. 

BREAKING: For the first time, @ChicagoElection spokesperson Jim Allen says his agency urged @GovPritzker to prohibit voting in person and go to a fully vote-by-mail election. That recommendation was rejected.

The Governor has been trying to balance continuity of government, not disenfranchising people who already voted, avoiding a legal crisis & keeping everyone safe. The Chicago Board of Elections have been worried about scoring cheap political points.

“We offered them the National Guard, young volunteers and assistance with keeping polling places clean,” Caprara wrote.

Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana and Ohio moved in recent days to postpone their presidential primary elections after declaring a state of emergency due to the spread of the coronavirus. But Pritzker on Monday said he didn’t see that as an option for Illinois.