Polling Places in Effingham County Now Closed After Judge Ordered Them to Stay Open 90 Minutes Longer

Election returns can be found online here

Due to a shortage of ballots, all Effingham County polling places were ordered by Judge Kimberly Koester to remain open until 8:30pm Tuesday night.

We started getting reports from listeners around 5pm Tuesday that several polling places were running low, or were already out of ballots. The problem began with Republican ballots, but we also heard reports that Democratic ballots were in short supply as well. Effingham County State's Attorney Bryan Kibler worked to extend the hours of county polling places, and the request was approved just before 7pm.

Unfortunately, the approval came just as polling places were about to close, and some did. The County Clerk's office quickly began calling polling places to inform them of the order, but some had closed, or turned off their voting machines. Those officials were eventually directed back to reopen their polling places.

We've heard from several listeners who say they tried to vote, but were unable to. A listener sent us the photo below from Summit Township, where the parking lot was full of voters waiting for ballots, and we're told the crowd cheered when county officials arrived with additional ballots.