The Illinois Board of Elections received dozens of complaints from election judges about improper phone calls suggesting they need to vote a certain way to be a judge, officials said Monday.
The judges reported they received Robocalls over the weekend that demanded they vote a certain way and told them they needed to go to another three-hour training session.
"In these calls, the Robocalls said that an additional training session was needed for the judges," Election Board Chairman Langdon Neal said. "This is not true. Dozens of our judges reported receiving calls demanding that they vote a certain way in order to serve as election judges. I want to remind all our judges and all our voters that your ballot is secret."
According to the Board of Elections, judges are responsible for "the conduct of the election in the precinct polling place," which includes opening the polling place and tabulating the vote totals for the precinct.
An investigation is underway by the Chicago election board, and the matter could be handed over to the state's attorney or federal officials, Neal and Cook County Clerk David Orr said.
Neal said the Board of Elections sent emails to 6,000 judges saying the calls were false.
"We of course think it is wrong for people to try and intimidate or interfere with our judges of election," he said.
The calls are being seen by some as an effort to disrupt Tuesday's election.
