PEORIA,IL--Local elections officials say they have seen a steady stream of residents taking advantage of early voting this week.
Peoria city and county officials say safeguards in place eliminate the potential for voter fraud.
During early voting, residents must show a photo I.D. and on election day, they must give their name and address and sign a voter application. Judges from each party will verify their signature.
Peoria Election Commission Executive Director Tom Bride says once residents finished early voting they are tagged in the electronic system to prevent repeating the process.
"On election day there's a pre-printed application, it'll indicate that the person already has voted. It'll say they voted early or if we even mailed them a ballot," Bride said.
Bride says in his six years at the city election commission, he has not seen incidents involving voter fraud. Peoria County Clerk Steve Sonnemaker agrees, adding a state data base also helps them identify people with similar names.
"This data base is in a network tied to all the election authorities in the state. If there's another Jim Smith up in another county, then we must work to determine which Jim Smith this is and so the state has access to social security, drivers license," he said.
Many polling places are also monitored by poll watchers as well as election judges from each political party.
CINewsNow Notifier
Twitter
Connect With Us