Few hitches in Cairo election

Cairo, Ill. -- Turnout at Cairo's five election precincts ranged from 30 to 60 percent Tuesday with election judges reporting just a few problems as voters chose a new mayor and city council.

In three of the five precincts a handful of voters who had already cast ballots or had moved were turned away from the polls.

At Cairo High School where Ward 5 voters cast ballots, a total of six voters were sent away, election judge Brenda Gooden said. The six turned away included three who had already voted absentee, Gooden said.

"We had three trying to play tricks," she said.

In Ward 4, voting at the Emerson Elementary School, more than half of the voters on the books cast ballots without incident, election judge Julie Newell said.

The precinct was visited early in the day by an investigator with the Illinois Attorney General's office, she said.

"They have a larger presence here, and they indicated they were serious," Newell said.

Interim County Clerk Nancy Kline said two observers from the Illinois Election Board and one from the attorney general's office were in town at her request.

"It has been pretty good," Kline said.