Messing with the voting process

In the 1980 contest for 48th Ward Democratic Committeeman, four precincts were shut down because voting machines had malfunctioned.  

A court order was secured for those precincts, extending voting hours from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. But that only helped a little because some people voted during the day since they knew they would not be available in the evening. The “breakdown” succeeded in reducing the anti-Machine vote. The Machine ensured its voters cast their ballots early, when voting devices were still working.

A volunteer from Project LEAP (Legal Elections in All Precincts) was stationed at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners that day and observed a heated argument between two top officials involved in the incident.

The Board Chair was preparing to send a crew to repair the broken voting machines. He felt he had delayed long enough and that waiting any longer might jeopardize his agency’s appearance of neutrality.

The incumbent Committeeman who benefited from the delay tried to talk him out of dispatching the crew. He wanted the precincts to remain shut down so nobody else could vote. He considered that an important part of his campaign strategy.

But the Board Chair, a political ally of his, told him he had helped him as much as he could, and he just couldn’t help him anymore. The crew was ordered to make the repairs.