The Galesburg Election Office saw more than 125 residents take advantage grace registration during the March 15 primary election.
This is the first year Illinois residents are allowed to register and vote on the same day.
Lisa Watson is director of the Galesburg Election Office. She tells WGIL the office had doubled the usual staff of just two in an attempt to get people through the registration and voting process faster, but there were still delays.
“Anyone who was in line as of 7 p.m., they were able to register and vote,” Watson says, “but then it took maybe and hour and 25, an hour and a quarter to process everyone who was in line at 7 o’clock.”
She adds that from about 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on primary election day, the office had constant traffic.
Registering took about 10 minutes per person, so Watson encourages people to register ahead of time for the Nov. 8 general election.
She says the registration process takes about 5 minutes online, adding that people still have the option to register and vote on the same day.
“But the state requires it to be a little longer process,” Watson says. “They do have to come in person, they have to provide two forms of identification.”
Watson says she hopes to add one more person working in the office for the Nov. 8 election.
